


Dark Horizon

by OpalSpirit



Series: The Prequels: Retold [3]
Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Anger, Battle of Coruscant, Betrayal, Broken Promises, Brother-Sister Relationships, Brothers, Clone Troopers - Freeform, Clone Wars, Coruscant (Star Wars), Droids, End of the Clone Wars, F/M, Grief, Hatred, Hearing Voices, Kamino, Lightsaber Battles, Longing, Love Confessions, Massacre, Mustafar (Star Wars), Near Death Experiences, Order 66, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Presumed Dead, Rescue Missions, Revenge of the Sith, Sith, Tatooine (Star Wars), The Separatists, beau taplin, prequels retold, star wars prequels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 36,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22283779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OpalSpirit/pseuds/OpalSpirit
Summary: The third and final installment in the retelling of the Star Wars prequels.The end of the Clone Wars are in sight, yet what will follow will be far from peace. The galaxy's finest are dispatched to rescue the kidnapped Chancellor who was taken hostage by the droid commander General Grievous.Upon return to the capital, she hears them again. Voices that had remained silent for three years now tell of a darker horizon. When they speak of Anakin, will she dismiss them as her own fears? Or will she fight to prevent a future that could change the Galaxy forever?
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, obi-wan/reader
Series: The Prequels: Retold [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1562881
Comments: 19
Kudos: 103





	1. The rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t spare my loyalty lightly. To me, it’s not a superficial gesture or an expectation but a hard-won privilege that must be bled and fought for. But earn my allegiance and you’ve got it for good - a devoted friend and guardian who would break bones to protect you. ~ Beau Taplin // Blood Brother

The Capital was the one place that Y/N had believed the war would not come to. Now, as she wove her starfighter through a mess of explosions and streams of fire from the gunships that hovered just above Coruscant’s atmosphere, she realised just how naive she had been. It had all been a matter of time.

“If we die, I’m going to spend the rest of our afterlife reminding you that this was all your fault.” Y/N spoke into her earpiece and narrowly dodged the blast from a vulture droid that had its sights set on her.

“That’s cool, I wouldn’t mind having company while being a ghost,” Anakin’s amused tone filtered through her com.

Shaking her head, Y/N circled her fighter back and aimed her cannons at the droid that formally been hot on her tail. “Take that you mechanical piece of-”

“Language young lady,” Anakin’s voice cut her off.

“Are you seriously picking on my language right now?” Y/N replied, slight annoyance dripping into her tone. “And besides, I’m older than you!”

“Yeah, but only by a couple of years.”

Somehow managing to avoid crashing into the enemy gunships, Y/N managed to shoot back, “a couple? Make that ten.”

  
“Still a couple,” her friend’s smug voice made her grind her teeth.

“Just how is that?” Y/N pulled up short thus dodging an errant blast from a Republic cruiser.

“Well, you see-” Anakin started to reply when he was cut off.

“Can we stop bickering like children for just a minute and focus on the mission?” Obi-Wan interrupted. His no-nonsense tone filtering through both their earpieces.

Narrowing her eyes in concentration, Y/N soon found the two starfighters that were currently being piloted by her two best friends. “I’d love to.”

Within moments all three were aligned.

“Master, the General’s ship is straight ahead.” Anakin’s tone became serious.

“You do know that he isn’t your Master anymore yeah?” Y/N couldn’t help herself, a grin tugging at the edges of her mouth.

“Its called respect Y/N,” Anakin tried and failed to sound irritated.

“Whatever you say,” Y/N replied, her e/c eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Children, please.” Obi-Wan sighed. Those two never passed up an opportunity to poke at each other.

“It’s the one crawling with vulture droids,” Anakin continued with his earlier description.

Y/N’s keen eyes soon locked onto the ship and groaned. “Oh joy.”

“I see it. Oh this is going to be easy,” the false optimism in Obi-Wan’s voice made Y/N grin.

“Not a word I’d use to describe our current situation.” Y/N shrugged her shoulders against her safety harness and looked to her right. When her eyes locked with his, she nodded and smiled what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

“Ahem,” Anakin faked coughed into their earpiece. “You may want to pay some attention. The fun is about to begin. Ten vulture droids straight ahead and coming down the left side.”

“Yippee,” Y/N tone dripped with sarcasm. Gripping the yoke of her fighter with one hand and the triggers with the other, she settled against her seat and took a deep breath.

“Add five Tri-fighters to the right,” Obi-Wan’s statement made her cringe.

“This just keeps getting better and better,” Y/N murmured to herself. “I never should have let them talk me into this.”

“I heard that,” both Obi-Wan and Anakin spoke at the same time.

“Now that your hearing capabilities have been established, shall we continue?” She looked from side to side and received a thumbs-up from Anakin and nod from Obi-Wan.

“I’ll handle the Tri-fighters,” Y/N impulsively decided and surged forward before the other two could say anything.

“She’s going to get herself killed if she’s not careful,” Obi-Wan said to Anakin as they watched Y/N’s starfighter shoot forward.

“Well,” Anakin’s voice floated over the com. “We can’t let her have all the fun, can we?”

~ ~ ~

Grievous’s reptilian eyes had followed the three Jedi starfighters for quite sometime now. _Skywalker, Kenobi_ and _Y/L/N_. Those three had quickly become the bane of the Separatist’s existence. Separate them and they were dangerous, put them together and they became lethal.

So it made perfect sense for the Senate to send their best to retrieve their precious Chancellor.

Then, one of the three broke away from the others and shot towards the oncoming Tri-fighers. Grievous watched that one closely. Skywalker no doubt. Who else would face such an enemy head-on ? His eyes soon caught onto the the remaining two, who soon followed. Kenobi and Y/L/N. Those two were never far from their mutual friend. Where one was, the other two would be close by.

The General watched in angered fascination as they decimated and outmaneuvered the droids that Grievous had dispatched. Turning away from the view port, he left the bridge, coughing as he went. Sooner or later they would make their way to his ship, and when they did, he would be ready.

~ ~ ~

Y/N considered herself lucky. Tri-fighters were notoriously difficult to destroy.

“The General’s Command ship is dead ahead,” Anakin’s voice crackled in her earpiece. “Head for the hanger.”

Y/N bit back a snide remark when Obi-Wan’s slightly panicked voice sounded in her ear. “Have you noticed that the shields are still up?!”

Upon closer inspection, Y/N noticed that he was right. “Anakin? You and me, lets go.” Signalling to her friend, she shot forward with canons blazing, Anakin following suit and Obi-Wan not far behind.

The shield generators were destroyed with the first few blasts and soon the hanger’s blast doors began to close with a terrifying speed. All three Jedi punched their thrusters to maximum.

Y/N held her breath as they narrowly missed being crushed by the doors. All three starfighters crash land in a show of sparks, their pilots wasting no time in leaping out of them.

“Next time the galaxy loses it’s mind,” Y/N called over the commotion of fending off the droids that had surrounded them. “Count me out.”

“Not going to happen,” Anakin replied, sauntering over to her after they had dispatched the last of the droids.

Before she could think of a reply, Obi-Wan walked over to them and turned his attention to Artoo who had followed Anakin. “Artoo locate the Chancellor.”

“Tap into the Ship’s computers,” Anakin further instructed and winked mischievously at Y/N before following the little astromech.

Sighing and shaking her head, Y/N made to follow the two when she felt a hand on her arm. Looking down, she smiled when she saw who the hand belonged to.

“Are you alright?” Those familiar sea-shaded eyes searched her e/c ones.

Nodding, she placed a gentle hand on his. “Yeah. I think so.”

The momentary silence was broken when four battle droids approached. Turning to face them, Y/N and Obi-Wan drew and ignited their lightsabers. Behind them, the sounds of Artoo hacking into the ship’s mainframe were accompanied by Anakin’s small encouragements.

It did not take long to take care of their attackers. In that moment Artoo managed to display a complete hologram of the entire ship.

“Where do you suppose they’re holding the Chancellor?” Y/N’s eyes fixated on the ship’s tall spire and she hoped she was wrong. Heights were never really her thing.

“His signal seems to be coming from there.” Obi-Wan pointed to very place that Y/N had been staring at. “The observation platform at the top of that spire.”

“Y/N?” Anakin’s worried tone broke through her thoughts, “you ok? You look a little pale.”

“Yeah,” she smiled at both of them and nodded, “I’m fine.”

Neither of them looked the least bit convinced but decided not to push the matter.

Then Anakin said something that Y/N wished she didn’t have to hear. “I sense Count Dooku.”

 _Honestly,_ she thought to herself, _could the day get any worse ?_

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes slightly, “I sense a trap.”

This only made Anakin smile, “next move?”

Obi-Wan answered with a grin of his own, “spring the trap.”

 _Those two were incorrigible,_ Y/N thought to herself as she followed them to the nearest elevator.

~ ~ ~

Their arrival had not gone entirely unnoticed. General Grievous stalked onto the ship’s bridge and addressed the Neimoidian that sat at the helm. “What’s the situation Captain?”

“Three Jedi have landed in the main hanger bay,” he replied. “We’re tracking them.”

Grievous turned to one of the screens and coughed in place of a laugh. “Just as Count Dooku predicted.” In reality Dooku only expected two, but one addition should prove little trouble.

~ ~ ~

Even the elevator ride proved to be eventful. The moment the three of them has set foot in one, they were once again faced with more than ten battle droids.

They made quick work of them, but that was not the end of it. The elevator screeched to a sudden stop, causing all three to look at each other in confusion.

Obi-Wan turned to Anakin, “did you press the stop button?”

Anakin, in turn shook his head, “no, did you?” To which Obi-Wan also shook his head.

“Y/N did you?”

“Really Anakin, why would I do that?” Y/N glared at him with her hands on her hips.

“Well, there’s more than one way out of here,” Anakin said while looking up. Before either Y/N or Obi-Wan could react, he ignited his weapon.

“We don’t want to get out,” Obi-Wan reminded his friend, “we want to get moving.” Taking out his comlink, he tried to get through to Anakin’s faithful little astromech, “Artoo..Artoo? Do you copy? Activate elevator,” he stopped talking as he examined the instrument panel in front of him, “31174.”

Y/N only rolled her eyes when Anakin disregarded those words and sliced a hole in the elevator ceiling and jumped out.

“Show off,” she called up through the hole. “What if we start moving ?”

“Not going to happen,” Anakin called back, sounding much too confident.

“Such faith you have in your little friend,” Y/N shot back, “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled once I tell him.”

“Don’t you dare-” Anakin’s words were cut off when the elevator began moving rapidly downwards.

“Stop, stop! Artoo,” Obi-Wan spoke, much too calmly, into the comlink. “We need to be going up not down.”

Anakin, for his part, was hanging by his fingertips off the narrow edge of the elevator shaft. Y/N’s words kept running loops in his mind, she wouldn’t let him live this one down.

His attention was drawn to the elevator door just above him as it was pried open. Two battle droids aimed their blasters at him.

Y/N’s panic was quite literally brought to a halt as the elevator jolted to a rough stop.

Standing up, she smoothed her hair and robes and saw Obi-Wan do the same as he spoke into the comlink. “Now that’s better,” as the elevator began to move up again.

Looking down, Anakin saw the very same elevator moving towards him with terrifying speed.

Landing smoothly atop the racing elevator, Anakin dropped down, startling both it’s occupants. Their lightsabers at the ready.

“Oh it’s you,” Obi-Wan said with a degree of relief.

Y/N, meanwhile shot her friend a smug smile. “Not going to happen huh?”

Not gracing her with an answer, Anakin pointedly ignored her and turned to Obi-Wan. “What was that about?”

“Well, Artoo has been..” Obi-Wan started before Anakin cut him off.

“No loose wire jokes,” Anakin said rather defensively, “he’s doing the best he can.”

“Did I say anything?” Obi-Wan protested, making Y/N smile.

“He’s trying!” Anakin was becoming more defensive of his little droid.

“I didn’t say anything!”

Their argument is brought to an end when the elevator doors opened to reveal the viewing platform. Y/N tried not to think of high up they were.

Three pairs of eyes immediately locked onto the Chancellor, who sat not too far from where they stood.

Approaching him, they bowed respectfully.

While Y/N and Obi-Wan simply addressed him, Anakin enquired after his well being.

The answer the Chancellor gave made Y/N curl her lip in disgust. “Count Dooku.”

How she loathed that name and the man it was attached to. Not bothering to hide her feelings concerning the man, she turned to face him. Behind her, Anakin and Obi-Wan strategised, but she only had eyes for the man in front of her.

The Count was equally surprised to see her. “Young Y/N. What an unexpected pleasure.”

Her e/c eyes glittered with the deepest loathing. Her hand gripped the handle of her lightsaber in an effort to control her emotions. “I cannot say I feel the same way.”

“Get help,” the Chancellor spoke from behind her, “you’re no match for him. He’s a Sith Lord.”

“Oh, I know,” Y/N murmured before shrugging off her robe and igniting her weapon.

“Y/N? What are you doing?”

“Y/N. Stop.”

Her friends’s protests did nothing to quell the emotions that now ran rampant in her system. No one would take this opportunity away from her.

The two Jedi watched in horrified fascination as Y/N launched into a series of attacks that took the Count by surprise. Her attacks were fluid but held a startling amount of aggression.

This loss of emotional control combined with aggression, led Y/N to become unaware of her surroundings.

Dooku used this to his advantage.

Obi-Wan watched her closely, never had he seen her lose control like that in a fight before. Usually an elegant fighter, Y/N hardly ever relied on strength and aggression.

It all happened so fast. Suddenly Y/N could no longer feel solid ground beneath her feet. Managing to prevent her head from hitting the ground, Y/N hit the hard ground with a loud thud. Her sword arm was not so lucky. Despite being horribly winded, she tried to get up and immediately hissed at the pain that shot through her right wrist.

Convinced that she wouldn’t be causing him anymore trouble, Dooku made his way to the two remaining Jedi.

Just as Y/N had done moments before, Anakin and Obi-Wan shrugged off their robes and stood their ground. The latter had to restrain himself from looking in her direction and making sure she was alright.

“Gentleman, your swords please,” Dooku spoke as he approached them. “We don’t want to make a mess of things in front of the Chancellor.” If he thought to get a rise out of them, he was wrong.

Anakin and Obi-Wan, with weapons ignited, moved towards him. “You won’t get away this time, Dooku.” Obi-Wan said to him.

The fight that ensued was beautiful. At least, that’s how it appeared to Y/N. Her eyes followed her friends as they fought and worked together against their enemy.

“I’ve been looking forward to this,” Dooku remarked, making Y/N want to tear that irritating smirk from his face.

“My powers have doubled since the last time we met Count,” Anakin spoke confidently and Y/N felt her heart swell with pride.

“Good,” Dooku sounded somewhat please, “twice the pride, double the fall.” His smug tone elicited a snarl from Y/N.

Her hard e/c eyes followed the group as the fight continued. It soon became apparent that Anakin was the stronger fighter. Both Dooku and Obi-Wan were tiring and Y/N began to worry, she knew all too well what happened if one tired during a fight.

A horrified gasp left her lips as she watched Dooku lift Obi-Wan into the air and then throw him off to the side while managing to land a hard kick on Anakin. Ignoring the pain in her arm, she pushed herself off the floor and limped her way to where he lay unconscious.

Shaking her head in denial, she felt for a pulse and felt relief course through her when she found one.

Anakin, meanwhile continued to rain blow after blow down on the Count. Their lightsabers lock, blue becomes entangled with red.

“I sense great fear in you Skywalker.” Dooku taunted him, “you have hate. You have anger. But you don’t use them.”

Pushing away from him, Anakin struck again with new ferocity. He struggled to keep a tight reign on his emotions. But as the Count continued to strike, his anger grew and therefore, his strength.

Y/N felt her eyes widen as she watched the fight. Her jaw almost dropped as Anakin severed the Count’s hands in one swift move. Her eyes followed his lightsaber as Anakin caught it and activated it, along with his own. She held her breath as he held both weapons at the Count’s neck.

“Good, Anakin, good. I knew you could do it.” The Chancellor’s words surprised all those listening. “Kill him. Kill him now.”

Y/N couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Neither, it seemed, could Anakin. “I shouldn’t…” he sounded so unsure.”

“Do it,” in that moment, Y/N swore he sounded like someone else.

Before she could even blink, Anakin severed Dooku’s head and she watched in a stunned silence as her friend freed the Chancellor.

Accepting Anakin’s help, she stood up.

Suddenly the ship tilted to one side, helping Anakin to make a decision. Lifting a still unconscious Obi-Wan onto his shoulders, Anakin motioned for Y/N and the Chancellor to follow him.

When they arrived at the elevators however, they found them not to be working. As the ship continued to tip to one side, Anakin forced open a set of elevator doors and entered the empty elevator shaft.

Y/N didn’t think twice. Clutching her injured limb to her chest, she followed her friend down the shaft as the ship continued to lose its balance.

Unbeknownst to the trio, the ship’s crew worked quickly in order to right the ship once more. They were successful.

 _Oh no_ , Y/N thought to herself as she felt the ship right itself. Of all the places she could have been at that moment, stuck in an elevator shaft with a broken arm was not one of them.

Of course, Obi-Wan had to choose _that_ moment to wake up. Quickly taking in his surroundings, he scrambled to get a better hold on Anakin, who was hanging tight to a small cable.

“Um, guys,” Y/N called from not far above. “We kinda need to move, _now_.” Her words were emphasised by the sound of an elevator rushing down towards them.

Letting go of their respective handholds, the three Jedi and the Chancellor tumbled down the elevator shaft before unraveling the grappling hooks from their utility belts and using them to swing through an open door just as the elevator rushed past.

“I’m never doing anything like that ever again,” Y/N muttered to herself as Anakin and Obi-Wan glanced at her. “And you two,” she pointed at them with her good hand, “can’t convince me to.”

~ ~ ~

On the bridge, the location of the Jedi and the freed Chancellor had been discovered. A co-pilot spoke up, addressing the General. “General, we found the Jedi. They’re in Hallway 328.”

 _Excellent,_ Grievous thought to himself. “Activate Ray shields.”

~ ~ ~

The four skidded to a halt as ray shields appeared around them. Y/N groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Wait a minute! How did this happen? We’re smarter than this!” Obi-Wan spoke up, clearly confused.

“Apparently not,” Anakin replied and Y/N found herself agreeing with him.

“I say..patience.” Anakin’s suggestion was met with looks of disbelief from both Y/N and Obi-Wan.

“Patience?” They both asked at once, not believing what he had just said.

“Yes.” Anakin seemed rather sure of himself. “Artoo will be along in a few moments and he’ll release the ray shields.”

“The way you rely on that droid..”Y/N shook her head and held her hands up defensively when Anakin glared at her.

Sure enough, seconds later, Artoo came screeching into the hall. Anakin seemed rather pleased with himself. “See? No problem.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth then more droids appeared.

“Seriously?” Y/N asked no one in particular the same time Obi-Wan turned to Anakin.

“Do you have a plan B?”

Anakin was silent as the droids surrounded them and took them, hands bound, to General Grievous.


	2. Premonitions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A recent scientific study found that the hearts of lovers really do beat in sync, that after just a few moments of close proximity each begins to follow the other’s lead until they beat as one. As though our very hearts have leapt out of our chests, and asked one another to dance. ~ Beau Taplin // The Slow Dance

Skywalker, Kenobi and Y/L/N. If there were three names that the General hated more, he had yet to find them. Utter contempt flickered in his reptilian eyes. Yet, their lightsabers would make valuable additions to his growing collection.

“So,” the young woman spoke up. “You’re the one that’s responsible for this mess?” Her e/c eyes sparkled defiantly as she looked up at him. Y/N Y/L/N, a thorn in the General’s side and a formidable fighter. A compassionate leader and a fearless warrior. No wonder the Republic loved her.

“Y/N Y/L/N,” Grievous rasped and looked down at her. “It is time we met.”

“Really?” She questioned, obviously favouring her right arm. “I wasn’t under that impression.”

“Y/N,” Kenobi spoke up from beside her, his tone cautionary. “Do be careful.”

Grievous turned away from her before she could say anything else. “Oh yes. General Kenobi, the Negotiator. We’ve been waiting for you. This wasn’t much of a rescue.”

Y/N watched in helpless annoyance as the droids around them took their lightsabers.

“Well,” Obi-Wan replied, “that depends on your point of view.”

“And,” Grievous turned to the young man beside him. “Anakin Skywalker…I was expecting someone with your reputation to be a little…older.” 

“General Grievous,” Skywalker acknowledged, “Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies. You’re shorter than I expected.”

Behind him, Y/L/N snorted.

Grievous snarled, “Jedi scum,” and turned away from the trio.

“Anakin,” Kenobi addressed his friend in the same tone as before. “We have a job to do. Try not to upset him.”

Taking the lightsabers from the droids, Grievous made a show of adding them to the one that hung inside his cloak already. “Your lightsabers will make a fine addition to my collection.”

“Not this time,” Kenobi challenged, “and this time, you won’t escape.” Beside him, Y/L/N smiled nastily.

“Artoo!” Skywalker suddenly addressed the astromech in front of him, thus causing the little droid to shoot off sparks and electrical pulses in every direction.

Taking advantage of the General’s momentary distraction, Y/L/N reached out with her left hand and called her lightsaber to her. In one fluid movement, she had ignited her weapon and freed the other two Jedi, their hands suddenly gripping their respective weapons.

Furious, Grievous backed away and let his bodyguards advance on them. “Crush them. Make them suffer.” His eyes flickered to Y/L/N who held her injured right arm to her chest while fending off droids with the other. It seemed as though not even a substantial injury to her preferred limb dampened her fighting skills.

Kenobi and Skywalker sliced through the droids with such ease that the General began to see red. Even his own bodyguards were cut down before his eyes.

Snatching up a fallen electro-staff, Grievous stood as though to fight, drawing the three Jedi to him.

“You lose, General Kenobi,” he snarled before throwing the staff directly at the glass-panes of the view port.

The glass shatters on impact. Those that did not find something to hold on to were sucked out into space, while the General managed to escape once more.

Only when the blast shields close over where the windows used to be, do they let go.

Straightening her robes and hair, Y/N adjusted her hold on her arm and made her way over to her friends and the Chancellor.

“The hull is burning up!” The Chancellor’s urgent tone had Y/N looking out the remaining windows.

Turning back to the others, she sighed and nodded. “He’s right. The ship’s falling apart.”

Turning to the navigation panels, Anakin spoke up. “All of the escape pods have been launched.”

Y/N ground her teeth in frustration. The General’s work no doubt.

“Grievous,” Obi-Wan confirmed her suspicions. Turning to Anakin, he asked a little hopefully, “can you fly a cruiser like this?”

“You mean, do I know how to land what’s left of this thing?” Anakin shot Y/N an encouraging smile before sitting himself in the pilot’s seat.

“Well?” Obi-Wan questioned, desperately in need of an answer.

“Under the circumstances, I’d say the ability to pilot this thing is irrelevant, strap yourselves in.” Within moments Anakin’s fingers were flying over the instrument panels and Y/N seated herself behind Obi-Wan. 

“Steady,” Obi-Wan warned Anakin, who was struggling with the ship’s controls. “Our attitude is eighteen degrees.”

“The pressure is rising, we need to slow this wreck down.” Anakin was in pilot mode, turning to Obi-Wan, he further instructed. ”Open all hatches, extend all flaps and drag fins.”

Y/N knew what he was doing, a desperate attempt to grant them a smooth landing, or at least one that they would survive.

“The temperature is steady,” Obi-Wan informed Anakin, to Y/N’s relief. “Hatches open, flaps extended, drag fins-” he was cut off when a grating sound shudders the vessel.

The three Jedi exchange worried looks. Y/N began to feel a little faint.

“We lost something,” Anakin stated and Y/N struggled to keep her increasing heart rate under control.

“Not to worry,” Obi-Wan said cheerfully, “we are still flying half a ship.” Making Y/N laugh, albeit a little nervously.

The ship continued it’s nose-dive. “Now we’re really picking up speed,” if Y/N didn’t know any better, she’d say Anakin sounded excited.

“Careful,” Obi-Wan cautioned, “we’re heating up twelve thousand…thirteen thousand.”

“What’s our current speed?” Anakin asked over his shoulder.

“Eight plus sixty,” Obi-Wan tell him, “our temperature is sitting at ten thousand, nine thousand, we’re in the atmosphere.”

Y/N clutched desperately onto her seat with her good hand, her breath caught in her throat.

“Grab that,” Anakin pointed to one of the controls and nodded to Y/N. “Keep us level.”

Grabbing hold of the control with her good hand, Y/N focused on the task at hand.

“Steady, steady,” Obi-Wan murmured to her as they neared the planet’s air-traffic.

“Hang on,” Anakin announced, “this may get a little rough. We lost our heat shields.”

Y/N was thankful she had a task to focus on, lest she should begin to panic.

“Five thousand, three thousand,” Obi-Wan’s countdown did nothing for her nerves. “Two thousand. Fireships on the left and the right.”

Y/N sighed with relief when she saw them.

“We’ll take you in,” the fireship’s pilot informed them.

“Copy that,” Obi-Wan responded. To Anakin and Y/N, he pointed right ahead, “landing strip’s straight ahead.”

Anakin, however seemed far from pleased. “We’re coming in too hot.” His words were accompanied by the ship slamming onto the landing strip and destroying almost every building in close proximity as it skidded to a stop.

The sigh of relief was unanimous.

“Another happy landing,” Obi-Wan announced happily, making Y/N smile.

Her legs were nothing short of shaky as she exited the ship. With her right hand clutched to her chest, she made to follow her friends.

_“I am sending my new apprentice Darth Vader. He will..take care of you.”_

Y/N froze. That voice, she knew that voice. It seemed so familiar yet she could not place who it belonged to. A _new_ apprentice? There was to be another?

“Y/N?”

The sound of her name brought her crashing back to the present. Looking up, her e/c eyes met sea-shaded ones. “Obi-Wan.”

“Is everything alright?” He asked, the concern in his voice was thinly veiled.

She wanted to reply, to nod and say ‘yes’. But she found herself unable to do so. Instead she simply stared at him, the fear she felt coloured her eyes a deeper shade.

Realisation dawn on him. He knew that look. “You heard them again?”

Y/N nodded wordlessly and bit her lip.

“What did they say?” Obi-Wan spoke a little quieter, as though he did not want anyone else to hear.

“I know the voice,” her voice trembled as she spoke, “but I do not have a face. He spoke of another.” Her eyes searched his, begging him to understand.

“Another?” Obi-Wan was confused, “who spoke of another?”

“The Sith” Y/N whispered, as though the name itself would summon him. “He spoke of another apprentice. A new one.”

 _The Sith._ That dark presence had haunted the edges of Y/N’s periphery ever since she first heard of their resurgence more than ten years before. Obi-Wan could clearly see the toll this information was taking on her. He knew what they _should_ do, but he remembered all too well what happened the last time she approached the Council on this matter. He could not do that to her.

“We have to tell them.” Y/N’s slightly stronger voice brought him from his thoughts. “We have to warn the Council.”

“Are you sure?” Obi-Wan asked, wondering if she had somehow guessed the direction of his thoughts. “Remember what happened last time?”

“I know,” she shrugged and bit her lip, “but with everything that’s happened since,” she paused and took a deep breath. “They may well believe me.” They had to. 

“For what it’s worth, I believe you,” Obi-Wan said, repeating the same words he had spoken to her when she had first told him about the Sith’s reappearance.

Y/N smiled. “It’s worth more than you could imagine. Besides, having one Council member on my side now is more than I had then.”

“Very true,” he conceded and nodded in Anakin’s direction. “I think he is getting a little impatient. We should go.”

Y/N agreed, “and we all know what happens when he gets like that, don’t we?”

Joining Anakin and the Chancellor, they boarded the transport that would take them to the Senate.

~ ~ ~

Padme watched and waited anxiously in the shadows. Ever since the Chancellor’s abduction, her world had been turned upside-down. Now as she watched _him_ leave the transport, she felt her world set itself right again.

She had heard rumours that Y/N Y/L/N had been one of the three sent to retrieve the head of the Republic. She admired the young woman and the sibling-like relationship she had with Anakin, she knew he needed that.

Padme watched as Y/N stayed on the transport with Obi-Wan and laughed at something Anakin was saying. Despite the war, Padme was glad that Anakin and Y/N had not lost the spark that made them who they were.

As the transport took off, the group of Senators surrounding the Chancellor began moving in her direction. Retreating further into the shadows, Padme waited for him to come just that _little_ bit closer.

Her wish was soon granted. Anakin seemed to sense her presence and broke off from the group. Within moments she was swept into the safety of his arms and welcomed the kiss he gave her.

“Oh Anakin!” She could not keep the relief from her voice. “Thank goodness you’re back.”

“I’ve missed you Padme,” he whispered into her hair, “I’ve missed you so.”

“There were whispers…that you’d been killed,” Padme voiced the fear she’d been living with for months now. “I’ve been living with unbearable dread.

I’m back, I’m alright,” Anakin reassured her. “It feels like we’ve been apart for a lifetime. And it might have been….If the Chancellor hadn’t been kidnapped. I don’t think they would have ever brought us back from the Outer Rim Sieges.”

Moving forward to kiss her again, he became confused when she pulled back.

“Wait,” she help up a hand, “not here.” Her deep brown eyes quickly scanned their surroundings.

“Yes, here!” Anakin takes hold of her again, “I’m tired of all this deception. I don’t care if they know we’re married.”

Padme looks up at him in shock. “Anakin! Don’t say things like that.” With those words, she pulls him into an embrace and smiled when he reciprocated.

Anakin, however, sensed something was amiss. Pulling slight away from his wife, he looked her in the eye and asked, “are you alright? You’re trembling.”

Padme took a deep breath and considered how she was going to tell him. Smiling, she looked up at him, “something wonderful has happened.”

Anakin looked at her and tried to figure out what she meant.

“Ani,” her warm brown eyes met his blue ones. “I’m pregnant.”

To say that Anakin was shaken by this new would have been an understatement. Upon realising how his reaction must have seemed to her, he smiled down at her, happiness like no other flooded his system. “That’s-, thats wonderful.”

“What are we going to do?” It was evident that she had made no plans prior to telling him. Worry was etched into every word.

“We’re not going to worry about anything right now,” Anakin told her gently. “This is a happy moment. The happiest moment of my life.” And he meant every word.

~ ~ ~

The sun shone bright on Utapau as a small Neimiodian shuttle landed in one of it’s many sink-hole cities.

Once the boarding ramp had been lowered, General Grievous stalked out and made his way to a large conference room, his bodyguards following close behind.

Activating the holo-reader in the room’s centre, Grievous bowed to the figure that appeared. “Greetings Lord Sidious.”

“General Grievous,” the Sith Lord addressed him, “I suggest you move the Separatist leaders to Mustafar.”

“It will be done My Lord.”

“The end of the war is near General,” Sidious spoke from the holo. “And I promise you, victory is assured.”

Lifting his head, Grievous dared look the Sith Lord in the eye. “But the loss of Count Dooku?”

“His death was a necessary loss, soon I will have a new apprentice,” Sidious spoke in an ominous tone. “One far younger and more powerful.”

~ ~ ~

“Are you certain that this is what you heard?” Mace Windu asked, his dark eyes trained on the young woman before him.

Struggling to stay calm, Y/N nodded. “Yes, Master. I am sure of it.”

“We will meditate on all you have told us,” Master Windu said, earning a surprised look from her. “These are indeed troubling times.”

“That is putting it mildly,” Y/N murmured to herself.

“What was that?” Mace Windu inquired, her expression of surprise had shifted to one of mild disbelief.

“What good will meditating do when we _know_ he is out there, looking for someone else to become like him!” Y/N’s voice rose as she became more passionate, her e/c gaze swept over the assembled Council members, pleading with them to understand.

“Calm yourself young Y/L/N.” Saesee Tiin’s voice drew her attention to him.

“Only when this Council truly understands the danger that not only we face, but the whole galaxy as well.” She looked him in the eye before turning on her heel and leaving the chamber.

Watching the evening air traffic helped Y/N gain some sense of composure. She had been wrong to take the matter to them. Obi-Wan had been right.

“There you are,” his soft tone drew her from her thoughts.

“Here I am,” she smiled and sighed. “You were right.”

“Oh?” He moved closer until they stood shoulder-to-shoulder.

“I should have kept my mouth shut and not brought the matter to them.”

“You trusted you instincts,” he reassured her and laid a gentle hand on top of hers that rested on the railing. “You cannot be blamed for that.”

“No,” Y/N paused, looking down at their hands. “I suppose not.”

“You are strong and determined. Please do not let their disapproval or misjudgement make you think otherwise.”

Y/N took a deep shuddering breath before looking up and meeting his kind eyes. “Why Obi-Wan? Why do you believe me when no one else does?”

He did not answer right away, but when he did, his voice was a whisper. “Master Qui-Gon knew of your _‘gift’_ , as I do. He asked me to make sure that you do not carry this weight alone.”

Y/N smiled sadly at the mention of the deceased Master. “You always were the good student Obi-Wan,” she murmured, half to herself and half to him.

“Not as good as some might think,” his response was so quiet, she almost believed she had imagined it.


	3. A sense of foreboding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don’t say a word. We have never needed them to communicate with one another. Whether it’s an energy or ancient kinship between our souls, I don’t know. But whatever we have goes beyond language. Between us, even the silence is extraordinary. Even the stillness speaks. ~ Beau Taplin // Silence

Coruscant’s night traffic became none-existent to Anakin. Watching Padme methodically brush her hair made him realise just how much he loved her and how much he had missed her.

“Annie,” Padme’s soft voice broke through his thoughts. “I want to have our baby back home on Naboo.” Her eyes and voice became distant, “we could go to the Lake Country where no one would know….where we would be safe.” Pausing, she turned to him and smiled. “I could go early and fix up the baby’s room. I know the perfect spot, right by the gardens.”

“You’re so beautiful,” Anakin murmured, thus gaining her attention.

The smile she sent him was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. “It’s only because I’m so in love.”

“No,” he laughed, shaking his head. “It’s because I’m so in love with you.”

“So love has blinded you?” She asked, feigning shock.

“Well,” he bit his lip before meeting her eyes. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

“But it’s probably true.”

Anakin couldn’t help laughing, something he hadn’t done in a very long time.

If only his dreams had been as peaceful. Plagued by visions of Padme dying in childbirth, Anakin woke and struggled to catch his breath. Glancing behind him, he saw Padme sleeping soundly.

Not wanting to wake her, he slowly moved off the bed and headed towards the big veranda and outdoor living area. Taking lungfuls of deep breaths, Anakin attempted to calm himself. He hadn’t felt fear like this since his mother died, he could not go through that again.

“What’s bothering you?” Padme asked from behind him.

Not showing his surprise, Anakin smiled and shook his head. “It’s nothing.” Looking down, he saw the pendant she was wearing and gently picked it up and examined it. “I remember when I gave this to you.”

Not so easily deterred, Padme asked him, “Anakin, how long is it going to take for us to be honest with each other ?”

Sighing, Anakin turned away from her and looked out at the city-scape before him. “It was a dream.”

“Bad?” Padme asked, gently laying a hand on his shoulder.

“Like the ones I used to have about my mother,” Anakin answered by way of explanation. “Just before she died.”

“And?” She had a feeling that it didn’t stop there.

“And,” Anakin continued, finally meeting her gaze. “It was about you.”

Silence passes between them before Padme reached out and took his artifical hand in her own. “Tell me.” She kept her voice gentle.

Shaking his head, Anakin smiles grimly. “It was only a dream.” But the look in his eyes did not go unnoticed by Padme. Taking a shuddering breath, he continued. “You die in childbirth.”

Shocked, Padme immediately wraps her arms around her unborn child. “And the baby?”

“I don’t know,” Anakin shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head thoughtfully.

“It was only a dream,” Padme murmured, trying to convince herself more than him.

Anakin, however, was not convinced. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close. “I won’t let this one become real.”

After a moment, Padme broke away from him to look him in the eyes. “This baby will change our lives. I doubt the Queen will allow me to continue to serve in the Senate. And if the Council discovers you’re the father..” she dreaded to think of the consequences.

“I know,” Anakin, of course he already knew what would happen.

“Do you think..” Padme paused, not sure of how he would take her next words. “Obi-Wan might be able to help us? Or perhaps Y/N?”

Anakin’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, “have you told them anything?” The less people knew, the better.

“No,” Padme answered, shaking her head. “But they’re like your family, Ani, surely they must suspect something. Especially Y/N, you know how perceptive she is.”

“True as that may be,” Anakin acknowledged before continuing. “Obi-Wan is still on the Council and Y/N…”

“She is like your sister Anakin,” Padme pleaded with him. “Surely we can trust her with this?”

“I will think about it,” Anakin conceded and smiled down at his wife. “Our baby is a blessing. Not a problem that requires solving.”

~ ~ ~

The Jedi Temple was generally a place where she could find peace. But not that night. Even being home on Coruscant didn’t stop Y/N from tossing and turning in her bed. It was only a few hours until dawn, but she valued her sleep.

Making her way to the main entrance, Y/N sat on the steps and watched the air-traffic pass by. She hoped that the continuous hum and softly pulsing lights would lull her overactive mind into some kind of rest. She felt her eyes beginning to feel heavy when a familiar voice spoke from behind her.

_“Destroy the Sith, we must.”_

Fully awake, Y/N sat up straight. That was Master Yoda, but what was he doing outside at that time of the night? Before she could turn to see if he was there, she heard another familiar voice.

_“Once more, the Sith will rule the galaxy. And we shall have peace..”_

Covering her mouth in shock, Y/N’s eyes widened. No. This couldn’t be happening! After everything that had happened. Or maybe it was _because_ of everything that had happened…

Jumping up from her place on the steps, Y/N bolted for the temple entrance. This could not wait.

_“I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi. The Dark Side of the Force surrounds the Chancellor.”_

Y/N skidded to a halt. That was Master Windu’s voice. She had never heard him before. The Chancellor? Evil? Y/N didn’t exactly love the man but, she didn’t hate him either. To her he was merely a very powerful politician.

Foreseeing the Council’s reaction to being called upon at such an hour, Y/N changed direction.

Finally coming to a stop in front of his door, Y/N lifted her hand to knock when..

_“You are fulfilling your destiny Anakin. Become my apprentice. Learn to use the Dark Side of the Force. There is no turning back now.”_

Stumbling back, Y/N felt her legs give way. Her breath came in short gasps and her vision began to blur with tears. Her mind _had_ to be playing tricks on her. There was no way this could possibly come to pass. Clutching the sides of her head, Y/N willed the memory of that voice to disappear.

What seemed like hours later, she felt two hands gently take hold of her wrists. Opening her eyes, she saw Obi-Wan looking at her with worried eyes. “Obi-Wan?”

“Y/N?” He whispered, concern colouring his tone. What in the name of the Force had brought her to this ? The eyes that met his were bright with unshed tears and there was a terrible grief in them. “What’s wrong? Please tell me.”

Y/N barely managed to shake her head. Her lips trembled as she struggled for some degree of composure.

“Please Y/N,” Obi-Wan pleaded with her, his eyes searching hers, wanting to know what elicited such a reaction from her.

“It’s Anakin,” she burst out, surprising him.

“Anakin?” He asked, confused.

Tearfully she nodded. “He’s going after Anakin. Obi-Wan,” her hands lashed out and clutched his sleeves. “He’s going after Anakin. We have to stop him!”

Obi-Wan did not have to guess of whom she spoke. The pain and grief in her eyes were explanation enough.

“Y/N, listen to me,” he forced his own disbelief and horror down. “That isn’t going to happen, you hear me?” He looked her in the eye and nodded, “we will fight for him and prove that voice wrong.”

Y/N nodded. Her jaw was trembling from how hard she had clenched it shut. “But what if we can’t? What if we can’t save him?” She lost the battle and the tears came streaming.

“There is no _if_ Y/N,” Obi-Wan swallowed hard. Her evident grief was like a knife to his heart. “Anakin is our _brother_. We love him and we will fight for him, but never against him.”

She nodded tearfully, “he would do the same for us, wouldn’t he Obi-Wan?”

“Yes,” his answer was immediate, the need to reassure her and himself was overwhelming. “He would.”


	4. Fare you well brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There may come a time in your life when the universe will ask you to do something fantastically foolish for the person you love. I pray that you rise to this challenge with daring and grace. That you always recognise the wisdom in risking anything and everything for the good of your heart. ~ Beau Taplin // A Most Unwise Thing

The early afternoon sun filtered through the shutters of Yoda’s private quarters. “Premonitions…premonitions…Hmmmm…these visions you have…”

“They are of pain, suffering, death..” Anakin looked down at the last word, the memory of the dream was still too fresh.

“Yourself you speak of, or someone you know?”

“Someone…” Anakin was hesitant in his answer, afraid that the Grand Master would see through him.

“Close to you?”

Anakin nodded, not meeting the Master’s eyes, “yes.”

“Careful you must be when sensing the future Anakin,” Yoda reminded him, “the fear of loss is a path to the Dark Side.”

“I won’t let these visions come true, Master Yoda.”

“Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force, Mourn them, do not. Miss them, do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is.”

Anakin sighed heavily, “what must I do, Master Yoda?”

“Train yourself to let go, of everything you fear to lose.”

~ ~ ~

Running out of the Temple Archives with her arms full of datapads, Y/N hurried towards one of the numerous briefing rooms.

Hoping that she’d make it in time, Y/N rounded a corner and slowed her pace as she neared the room. The room was full as she entered, making an extra effort not to disturb Obi-Wan who was giving a report on the Outer Rim Sieges.

Edging around the group of seated Jedi Masters and Knights, Y/N crept down to where the presentation was taking place and placed the datapads down beside Obi-Wan who nodded in thanks and sent her a small smile before continuing.

Moving back into the shadows, Y/N watched the rest of the presentation in silence. She had been grateful for the distraction of retrieving information from the Archives. Her tormented mind kept on replaying what she had heard, no matter how hard she tried to push it away.

Before she knew it, Jedi were filing past her and making for the exit.

Shaking herself, Y/N pushed herself away from the wall and was halfway to Obi-Wan when Anakin entered the room, looking apologetic.

“You missed the report on the Outer Rim Sieges,” Obi-Wan informed him, shooting a sideways glance in her direction.

‘I’m sorry,” Anakin responded, “I was held up, I have no excuse.”

Y/N made to approach him but Obi-Wan intervened. “In short they are going very well. Saleucami has fallen, and Master Vos has moved his troops to Boz Pity.”

Y/N frowned at being interrupted, Obi-Wan knew she had to speak with him.

“What’s wrong then?” Anakin asked, clearly sensing something was amiss despite the good news.

“The Senate is expected to vote more executive powers to the Chancellor today.”

Y/N’s breath caught in her throat at the mention of the Chancellor. After what she had heard, she didn’t know what to think of the man.

“Well, that can only mean less deliberating and more action. Is that bad? It will make it easier for us to end this war.” Anakin seemed confused as to why his former Master would see this as bad.

“Anakin,” Obi-Wan addressed him in a low warning tone. “Be careful of your friend Palpatine.” He had to restrain himself from glancing at her as she waited in the shadows. He knew that she would be desperate to talk to Anakin.

“Careful of what?” Anakin, asked, still very much confused.

“He has requested your presence.”

That was it for her. Emerging from the shadows, Y/N moved to stand beside Obi-Wan. “Hello Anakin,” she forced a smile.

“Y/N,” he acknowledged, before turning his attention back to Obi-Wan. “What for?”

Obi-Wan paused before answering, “he would not say.”

“He didn’t inform the Jedi Council?” Anakin narrowed his eyes in thought. “That’s unusual isn’t it?”

“All of this is unusual,” Obi-Wan replied and placed a warning hand on Y/N’s arm. “And it’s making me feel uneasy. You’re probably aware that relations between the Council and the Chancellor are stressed.”

“I know the Council has grown wary of the Chancellor’s power, mine also for that matter. Aren’t we all working together to save the Republic? Why all this distrust?” Anakin glanced between Y/N and his old Master.

“Anakin,” Y/N could keep silent no longer. “All we are asking is that you do not blindly trust him. Remember where your loyalties lie.”

“The Force grows dark, Anakin, and we are all affected by it. Be wary of your feelings.” If Obi-Wan was surprised at how calm she sounded, he showed no sign of it.

The moment Anakin left the briefing room, Y/N took off after him before Obi-Wan could stop her.

“Anakin?” She called out to him, making him stop and turn around.

“Y/N? Is everything alright? You seemed a little tense back there.”

Y/N smiled slightly and cocked her head to the side. “Everything’s fine.”

Anakin raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing her, “who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?”

Letting out a breath that she didn’t realise she had been holding, Y/N met his blue gaze. “Anakin..”

“Yes?” He prompted, wondering where this was going.

“I need you to leave.” She spoke fast, wanting to get the words out before her voice started to tremble.

“I was doing just that when you called me,” Anakin reminded her with a twinkle in his eyes.

“No,” Y/N bit her lip and twisted her hands in the wide sleeves of her robe. “I need you to leave the Capital.”

“Leave the Capital?” Anakin’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Why?”

“You’re in danger if you stay,” Y/N’s eyes darted around, as though she thought someone might be listening. “Anakin,” her voice took on a pleading tone, “I need you to take Padme and leave. Please.”

“Take Padme..?” He narrowed his eyes at her, “how did you-?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she cut him off, “just promise me you’ll take her and go somewhere far away from here.”

_‘This was very strange behaviour from her’,_ Anakin thought to himself. “Y/N, what’s going on? Tell me the truth.”

“I already told you Ani,” her eyes begged him to understand the meaning behind her words. “Just promise me you’ll take her and go somewhere safe.”

“Y/N, I can’t, the Chancellor wants to see me.”

“I know that,” Y/N was becoming impatient, “but after you’ve done whatever he wants, promise me you’ll go.”

Anakin made to reply when Y/N cut him off, “Promise me Anakin.”

Smiling gently down at her, Anakin took both of her hands in his. “Y/N, I promise you that after I have completed my business with the Chancellor, Padme and I will leave Coruscant.”

“And don’t come back,” she added, “at least not until the war is over.”

Despite his deepening confusion, Anakin nodded. “And we won’t come back until the war is over.”

Y/N beamed up at him. “Thank you Ani. You have no idea what that means to me.”

Anakin laughed and shook his head. “I’ll never understand you Y/N. But I know that you always have a good reason for the things you do.”

“I’m glad you’ve finally come to realise that,” Y/N replied, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“I suppose this is goodbye then,” Anakin pointed out.

Y/N nodded thoughtfully, “not a goodbye. We’ll see each other again when the war is over.”

“Farewell then, big sister,” Anakin responded and gently kissed her cheek before giving her hands a slight squeeze and finally letting go.

“See you soon, little brother,” Y/N said in return and smiled.

Watching Anakin walk away from her, Y/N felt her constricted chest heave with relief.

She was still smiling when Obi-Wan approached her. “I haven’t seen you smile like that for quite some time,” he noted.

Turning to him, Y/N nodded and blinked to stop from crying. “I finally have cause to.”

“And what would that be?”

“I persuaded Anakin to leave the Capital,” she sighed happily. “We did it Obi-Wan. He’ll be safe after all. I should make a point of listening to you more.” A mischievous twinkle entered her e/c eyes.

“It took you long enough,” he returned with a smile of his own.

“But I’ll still worry about him though,” Y/N added after a short pause.

“You wouldn’t be you, if you didn’t.”

Y/N laughed and nodded, “very true.”

~ ~ ~

As Anakin stood beside the Chancellor in his office, he began to wonder just why he had been summoned.

“Anakin, I’ve known you since you were a small boy.” Palpatine’s voice drew Anakin out of his thoughts. “I have advised you over the years when I could … I am very proud of your accomplishments. You have won many battles the Jedi Council thought were lost … and you saved my life. I hope you trust me, Anakin.”

“Of course,” Anakin replied as though it were the most obvious thing.

Seemingly satisfied, Palpatine continued. “I need your help son.”

Confused yet curious, Anakin asked, “what do you mean?”

The Chancellor paused a moment before continuing, “I fear the Jedi. The Council keeps pushing for more control. They’re shrouded in secrecy and obsessed with maintaining their autonomy … ideals. I find simply incomprehensible in a democracy.”

Anakin didn’t answer right away. Was this what Y/N and Obi-Wan had meant? Did they suspect the Chancellor of foul-play? Clearing his expression, he spoke as calmly as he could. “I can assure you that the Jedi are dedicated to values of the Republic, sir.”

The Chancellor nodded but didn’t seem entirely convinced. “Nevertheless, their actions will speak more loudly than their words. I’m depending on you.”

“For what? I don’t understand..” his confusion continued to grow.

“Anakin … I’m appointing you to be my personal representative on the Jedi Council.”

Blinking, Anakin tried to process what he had just been told. A member of the Council? “Me? A Master? I am overwhelmed, sir, but the Council elects its own members. They will never accept this.”

Palpatine smiled to himself, then at Anakin. “I think they will … they need you more than you know.”

~ ~ ~

The Jedi were not the only ones to suspect that something was amiss with the Chancellor.

Gathered in Senator Bail Organa’s office, a group of six Senators discussed just how much the Republic had changed since the beginning of the war.

“Now that he has control of the Jedi Council, the Chancellor has appointed Governors to oversee all star systems in the Republic.“ Bail Organa pointed out, to dismay of everyone present.

“When did this happen?” Senator Fang Zar asked, alarmed.

“The decree was posted this morning,” Bail answered with a heavy sigh.

Padme narrowed her eyes in thought. “Will he dismantle the Senate?”

Senator Mon Mothma shrugged her shoulders, “Why would he bother? As a practical matter, the Senate no longer exists anyway.”

“The constitution is in shreds.” Senator Giddean Danu spoke up. “Amendment after amendment … executive directives, sometimes a dozen in one day.”

Padme shook her head in wonder. How could this have happened so quickly? All that she stood for seemed to be crumbling.

“We can’t let a thousand years of democracy disappear without a fight.” Bail declared and earned looks of worry from his fellow Senators as they considered the meaning behind what he had just said.

_‘Would it really come to that?’_ Padme thought to herself, she fervently hoped that it didn’t.

~ ~ ~

Anakin waited nervously outside the Council chamber. While he should have been ecstatic at the prospect of finally joining the Council, he also began to wonder how the existing members of the Council would react to this news.

The sound of the doors opening brings him back to the present. Taking a deep breath, he enters the chamber and stood silently before the assembled Council members.

“Anakin Skywalker, we have approved your appointment to the Council as the Chancellor’s personal representative.“ Mace Windu spoke first, breaking the silence.

Anakin struggled to keep from sighing with relief. He merely nodded and bowed. “I will do my best to uphold the principles of the Jedi Order.”

“Allow this appointment lightly, the Council does not. Disturbing is this move by Chancellor Palpatine.” Yoda spoke up from beside Master WIndu.

Anakin couldn’t help but agree. “I understand.”

“You are on this Council, but we do not grant you the rank of Master.”

Anakin blinked at Master Windu in shock. What did he just say? Red began to tint his vision. “What?” He exclaimed with poorly hidden anger, “How can you do this?? This is outrageous, it’s unfair … I’m more powerful than any of you. How can you be on the Council and not be a Master?” He was fuming. How dare they do this to him? How could they?

Mace Windu was unmoved, “take a seat, young Skywalker.” He gestured to one of the empty seats.

Calming down only a little, he bowed respectfully, “forgive me, Master.”

Obi-Wan watched him closely as he took his assigned seat. When he got emotional like that, he was so very similar to Y/N. Her own impassioned outbursts were what had often led the Council to shutting her down as they had just done with Anakin.

The Council session then began with one of it’s absent members, Ki-Adi-Mundi appearing as a hologram. “We have surveyed all systems in the Republic, and have found no sign of General Grievous.”

“Hiding in the Outer Rim, Grievous is. The outlying systems, you must sweep.“ Yoda instructed the absent Council member.

“It may take some time,” Obi-Wan stepped in. “We do not have many ships to spare.”

“We cannot take ships from the front line,” Mace Windu voiced what everyone had been thinking.

“And yet,” Obi-Wan continued. “It would be fatal for us to allow the droid armies to regroup.”

“Master Kenobi,” Yoda addressed him, “contact our spies, you must, and then wait.”

Obi-Wan nodded in acknowledgement.

“What about the droid attack on the Wookies?” Ki-Adi-Mundi asked with some concern.

“It is critical we send an attack group there immediately!” Master Windu seemed to share his concern.

Obi-Wan, it seemed, did too. “He’s right. It’s a system we cannot afford to lose. It’s the main navigation route for the southwestern quadrant.”

At this, Anakin perked up. “I know that system well. It would take us little time to drive the droids off that planet.”

Mace Windu turned to him, “Skywalker, your assignment is here with the Chancellor, and Kenobi must find General Grievous.”

Anakin opened his mouth to protest when Yoda spoke, “go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have.”

Sitting back in his seat, Master Windu looks across at the assembled Council. “It is settled then. Yoda will take a battalion of clones to reinforce the Wookiees on Kashyyyk. May the Force be with us all.”

Anakin, for his part, tried not to look too disappointed.

After the session had ended, Anakin left the chambers, trying to keep his anger under control.

Obi-Wan caught up to him as he exited the turbo lift and walked silently beside him until Anakin broke the silence, his anger had evidently not cooled. “What kind of nonsense is this, put me on the Council and not make me a Master!?? That’s never been done in the history of the Jedi. It’s insulting!”

“Calm down, Anakin. You have been given a great honor. To be on the Council at your age … It’s never happened before. Listen to me, Anakin. The fact of the matter is you’re too close to the Chancellor. The Council doesn’t like it when he interferes in Jedi affairs.” Obi-Wan knew that keeping calm in the face of Anakin’s more negative emotions often caused them to disappear quicker.

Taking a deep breath, Anakin turned to him, “I swear to you, I didn’t ask to be put on the Council…”

“But it’s what you wanted!” Obi-Wan reminded him. “Your friendship with Chancellor Palpatine seems to have paid off.”

“That has nothing to do with it,” Anakin shot back, his anger still evident.

“Anakin, the only reason the Council has approved your appointment is because the Chancellor trusts you.”

Anakin eyed his companion. What was he getting at. “And?”

“Anakin, look, I am on your side. I didn’t want to see you put in this situation.”

“What situation?” Confusion seemed to be he default feeling today.

Looking away from him, Obi-Wan made his way to one of the large windows before turning back to his friend. “The Council wants you to report on all of the Chancellor’s dealings. They want to know what he’s up to.” He watched Anakin closely.

“They want me to spy on the Chancellor?” Anakin clarified, with shock clear in his blue eyes. “That’s treason!”

“We are at war, Anakin,” Obi-Wan reminded him.

Folding his arms, Anakin didn’t answer right away. “Why didn’t the Council give me this assignment when we were in session?” He eventually demanded.

“This assignment is not to be put on record.”

Anakin knew he would get nowhere by asking why. “The Chancellor is not a bad man, Obi-Wan. He befriended me. He’s watched out for me ever since I arrived here.” If he hoped this would dissuade Obi-Wan, he was mistaken.

“That is why you must help us,” Obi-Wan emphasised. “Anakin. Our allegiance is to the Senate, not to its leader who has managed to stay in office long after his term has expired.”

“The Senate demanded he stay longer,” Anakin pointed out, hoping to prove his point.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan agreed, “but use your feelings, Anakin. Something is out of place.” Maybe Y/N hadn’t been as successful as she initially thought.

Looking towards the windows, Anakin paused before answering. “You’re asking me to do something against the Jedi Code. Against the Republic. Against a mentor…and a friend. That’s what’s out of place here. Why are you asking this of me?”

“The Council is asking you.”

“Does Y/N know of the depths our Order has sunk to?” Anakin suddenly demanded, taking Obi-Wan by surprise.

“Y/N has nothing to do with this, the Council has other plans for her.” Obi-Wan answered, keeping his cool. The Council had not made privy to him exactly what these plans were.

“I’m sure she’ll be thrilled,” Anakin announced sarcastically before turning and stalking down the hall.

“As much as you are, I imagine,” Obi-Wan called after him before walking in the opposite direction.


	5. Summons of the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You’re a dependable and comforting presence to me. A constant reassurance. The world could be wrapped in hurricanes yet somehow, in your arms, all would be quiet and still. ~ Beau Taplin // Hurricanes

The last time she found herself in this position was just days after her return to the Capital. Folding her hands in front of her, Y/N silently faced the assembled Jedi Council. She wasn’t exactly thrilled, considering the manner of her departure last time.

The summons had been vague. What could be so important that they had to see her right away but couldn’t tell her why?

Her e/c eyes scanned the seated members and noticed with curiosity that one seat was left empty. Y/N’s eyes narrowed slightly in thought, was there a new member that she was unaware of?

Her silent questions were interrupted when Master Yoda’s holographic presence addressed her. “Young Y/L/N, a mission, we have for you.”

Swallowing, Y/N nodded, “what is the nature of this mission, Master?”

Master Windu stepped in. “Reports have come in concerning a system that you are more than familiar with. It is in danger of falling to the Separatists. We need you to take a battalion of clones and make sure that doesn’t happen.”

That seemed pretty straight forward. Y/N nodded, “I would be happy to, Master, but,” she paused and took a deep breath. “You mentioned that I was familiar with this system?”

“Yes.”

“Well,” she continued and bit her lip, “I have become familiar with many star systems over the course of the war. To which do you specifically refer?”

“Kamino.”

“Kamino?” Y/N repeated in surprise. She had not returned to that planet after she was taken from it over five years ago. Her memories were not favourable.

Obi-Wan watched her closely. At the mention of that planet, her composure suddenly seemed dangerously close to crumbling. Whether it was intentional or not, her eyes met his and seemed to plead with him, as though asking him to change the Council member’s mind. In truth, their plans for her had only been revealed to him mere moments before she appeared.

Pulling herself together, Y/N bowed. “When shall I depart, Master?”

“As soon as possible, Y/L/N, if you please,” came Master Windu’s answer.

Nodding stiffly, she smiled politely. “As you wish, Masters.”

Making her way to the hanger bay where a transport waited for her, Y/N tried not to think of the last time she had been to that Force-forsaken, rain-soaked planet.

Shaking her head in an effort to clear it, Y/N made ready to board the transport when a voice behind her made her stop and look over her shoulder. Who she saw coming towards her caused a smile to blossom over her features. “Obi-Wan. Has the Council decided to send you to Kamino as well?”

“I came to wish you well, Y/N. I know that you do not exactly have fond memories of that planet.”

Stepping off the transport, Y/N shrugged. “It’s true. I’ve made no secret of it. But why me, Obi-Wan? Out of everyone, why did it have to be me?” 

“You heard the Council Y/N, you know that system better than most.”

Y/N resisted rolling her eyes. “Do you honestly believe that Obi-Wan? Maybe their reason for sending me to that ball of water, is because of how our last meeting went.”

“You think this is a form of punishment for your outburst?” Obi-Wan asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“What else could it be?” Her voice rose slightly before she bit her lip and looked down and tried to calm herself. “My apologies Obi-Wan. It’s not your fault.”

“Hey,” he said and smiled when she looked up. “If it makes you feel any better, they did not make their plans known to me until only a few moments before you arrived.”

This confused her. “But why? That’s very strange.”

Obi-Wan couldn’t help but agree. “There are many things happening right now that can be considered unusual. I may be on the Council, but I do not know everything.”

“What?” Y/N feigned shock, “and here I was, thinking that you did.” The smile that followed was infectious.

“Well,” Obi-Wan replied, with a smile of his own, “if only Anakin thought so too.”

Y/N laughed at the mention of her friend. “I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.”

“Ah well, one can hope.”

Y/N nodded in acknowledgment. “Yes, indeed. Miracles have been known to happen.”

“I, uh,” she continued after a brief pause, “think I should get going.”

“Yes. I think that would be best.” Obi-Wan agreed.

Turning back towards the transport, Y/N had every intention of boarding when she whirled around and pulled him into a tight embrace.

Eventually overcoming his surprise, Obi-Wan returned the gesture. “I’ll see you soon, Y/N,” he murmured into her hair and felt her nod. “Stay safe.”

Y/N fought against the sudden sting of tears and buried her face in his shoulder in a desperate attempt to stop them. “I will.” She lifted her head and broke away from him to look him in the eye. “Hopefully this campaign won’t take long. I’ll be back before you know it.” Y/N cocked her head to the side and smiled, “you won’t even have time to miss me. If you’ll miss me at all.” Winking, she boarded the transport and left the Temple for the clone landing platform.

_‘As if I wouldn’t_ , Obi-Wan thought to himself as he watched her disappear from his line of sight, ‘ _the oceans would sooner stop missing the moon’._

_~ ~ ~_

Having received a summons from the Chancellor, Anakin reluctantly left Padme’s apartment, having spent the better part of an afternoon there.

Navigating his speeder towards the Galaxies Opera House, Anakin thought back on what Padme had said. It was indeed no secret that he was closest to the Chancellor, but Anakin felt guilty enough about having to spy on him. He knew Padme had meant no harm, but he had been too worked up to see and think clearly.

Finally arriving at his destination, Anakin leapt out of his speeder and ran up the lavish entrance steps, only slowing down when he approached the doorway to the Chancellor’s private viewing box. Taking a deep breath, he approached the Chancellor, “you wanted to see me, Chancellor?”

Palpatine looked away from the performance and smiled at Anakin. “Yes, Anakin! Come closer. I have good news. Our Clone Intelligence Units have discovered the location of General Grievous. He is hiding in the Utapau system.”

_‘This is brilliant’,_ Anakin thought and smiled inwardly. “At last, we’ll be able to capture that monster and end this war.” Maybe now the Council would allow him to go.

The Chancellor smiled slightly and nodded. Then his tone grew serious, “I would worry about the collective wisdom of the Council if they didn’t select you for this assignment. You are the best choice by far … but, they can’t always be trusted to do the right thing.” He glanced sideways at the young Jedi.

Anakin merely shrugged in response, “they try.”

Suddenly realising that Anakin was still standing, he gestured to the seats beside him, “sit down.” Turning to his aides, he commanded them to leave.

As soon as the seats were made vacant, Anakin sat down beside the Chancellor.

Leaning slightly towards him, Palpatine continued. “Anakin, you know I’m not able to rely on the Jedi Council. If they haven’t included you in their plot, they soon will.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Anakin murmured, shifting in his seat.

Turning back to the performers, Palpatine spoke, in a lower voice. “You must sense what I have come to suspect…the Jedi Council want control of the Republic…they’re planning to betray me.”

This startled Anakin. He never thought to hear something like that. He shook his head in denial, “I don’t think…”

“Anakin,” Palpatine turned slightly to look at him, “search your feelings. You know, don’t you?”

He didn’t answer right away. He thought back to what Obi-Wan and Y/N had told him. “I know they don’t trust you…”

Palpatine nodded in a knowing manner. “Or the Senate, or the Republic, or democracy for that matter.”

That was it for Anakin. He had to tell someone and Y/N believed him to be off-planet, so… “I have to admit my trust in them has been shaken.”

“Why?” The Chancellor feigned concern. “They asked you to do something that made you feel dishonest, didn’t they?”

Shifting in his seat again, Anakin averted his eyes.

“They asked you to spy on me, didn’t they?“

Anakin nodded, still looking down. “I don’t know-, I don’t know what to say.”

“Remember back to your early teachings. Anakin. “All those who gain power are afraid to lose it.” Even the Jedi.”

Anakin wasn’t sure where this was headed. “The Jedi use their power for good.” That’s what he knew and believed.

“Good is a point of view, Anakin. And the Jedi point of view is not the only valid one. The Dark Lords of the Sith believe in security and justice also, yet they are considered by the Jedi to be…?” Palpatine kept an eye on him to gauge his reaction.

“Evil,” Anakin reluctantly finished the sentence.

The Chancellor nodded. “…from a Jedi’s point of view. The Sith and the Jedi are similar in almost every way, including their quest for greater power. The difference between the two is the Sith are not afraid of the Dark Side of the Force. That is why they are more powerful.”

“The Sith rely on their passion for their strength. They think inward, only about themselves.” Anakin pointed out.

“And the Jedi don’t?” Palpatine questioned, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“The Jedi are selfless, they only care about others.” Anakin announced confidently.

Palpatine studied Anakin for a brief moment. “Are you sure about that?”

Now Anakin was confused, he turned to the Chancellor. “I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t you?” The Chancellor prompted. When Anakin shook his head, he continued. “Your friend, young Y/N Y/L/N. Like you, she is a naturally gifted Jedi, but not unlike you, Anakin, her loyalty does not lie with the Council.”

This surprised him. He always thought Y/N to be one of the most loyal and Code-abiding Jedi in the Order. Aside from Obi-Wan, of course. “With all due respect Chancellor, you must be mistaken. Y/N is one of the most loyal Jedi I have ever met.”

“Am I?” Palpatine challenged, confident.

Anakin nodded. Y/N was like his sister, therefore he would defend her as such.

“She is loyal, you are right there my boy, but not to the Order.”

Anakin narrowed his eyes in thought. What could the Chancellor possibly mean by that?

Before he could think about it any further, Palpatine changed the topic, ever-so-slightly. “Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis “the wise”?”

“No,” Anakin answered, shaking his head. It didn’t in any way sound familiar.

Palpatine nodded and inclined his head. “I thought not. It’s not a story the Jedi would tell you. It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life … He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.” He kept looking at Anakin, especially as he finished his story.

Intrigued, Anakin leaned forward slightly, “he could actually save people from death?” He didn’t know that was possible!

“The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.”

_‘The Dark Side’_ , Anakin thought and immediately tried to shake the notion from his mind. If only it were that easy. Then he said words he never thought he’d ever say. “Is it possible to learn this power?”

Palpatine smiled inwardly. Outwardly he wore a serious expression as he turned fully to Anakin. “Not from a Jedi.”

~ ~ ~

Yoda’s holo image flickered to life as the Council session began.

“Palpatine thinks General Grievous is on Utapau. We have had no reports of this from our agents.” Ki-Adi-Mundi’s holo image announced to the assembled members.

Master Windu nods in agreement. “How could the Chancellor have come by this information and we know nothing about it? We have had contact with Baron Papanoida and he said no one was there.”

Anakin, who had been silent so far for fear of being shut down again, could keep silent no longer. “A partial message was intercepted in a diplomatic packet from the Chairman of Utapau.”

His contribution was met with looks of surprise but was quickly accepted as a valid point.

“Act on this, we must.” Yoda spoke up. “The capture of General Grievous will end this war. Quickly and decisively we should proceed.”

The Council all nodded in agreement and murmured their assent.

“The Chancellor has requested that I lead the campaign.” Anakin added, somewhat hopefully.

Silence answered him as his fellow Council members shot a somewhat concerned look his way.

It was Mace who broke that silence. “The Council will make up its own mind who is to go, not the Chancellor.“ There was no mistaking the annoyed edge to his tone.

“Yes,” Ki-Adi-Mundi added, “this decision is ours to make.”

Anakin’s good mood plummeted, but he remained silent.

“A Master is needed,” Yoda agreed, “with more experience.”

“Mmm,” Mace Windu nodded. “Given our resources, I recommend we send only one Jedi…Master Kenobi.”

Anakin clenched his jaw and tried not to let his petty jealousy get in the way. “He was not so successful the last time he met Grievous.” He finally ground out, earning shocked looks from other Council members and a dirty look from Obi-Wan. He immediately began to back peddle, realising how it must have sounded. “No offense, my Master, but I’m only stating a fact.”

Thankfully, Obi-Wan seemed to understand. “Oh no, you’re quite right, but I do have the most experience with his ways of combat.”

Anakin let out a breath of relief he didn’t know he’d been holding.

“Obi-Wan, my choice is,“ Yoda confirmed.

“I concur. Master Kenobi should go.” Ki-Adi-Mundi inclined his head in agreement.

“I agree,” Yoda spoke with finality and Mace seemed to sense this.

“Very well. Council is adjourned.”

With every word that was spoken, Anakin felt his anger grow, no matter how hard he tried to push it down. 

Turning to Obi-Wan, Mace said, “prepare two clone brigades as quickly as you can. If this report is true, there’s no telling how many battle droids he may have with him.”

Nodding in acknowledgement, Obi-Wan bowed and swept from the Council chambers, leaving a fuming Anakin.

~ ~ ~ 

It had been quite sometime since Padme had entertained for anyone other than the occasional Senator.

“Has Anakin been to see you?” Obi-Wan asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

Padme nodded and couldn’t help smiling. “Several times, I was so happy to hear he was accepted on the Jedi Council.”

“I know” Obi-Wan agreed and returned a smile,”…he deserves it. He is impatient, strong willed, very opinionated, but truly gifted. Much like someone else we both know.”

Padme’s smile developed into a laugh as she agreed with him. “Yes. Indeed..” Pausing, she looked him in the eye and inclined her head, “you’re not just here to say hello. Something is wrong, isn’t it?”

“You should be a Jedi, Padme,” Obi-Wan noted with a small smile.

Padme raised an elegantly-shaped brow. “You’re not very good at hiding your feelings.“

Inwardly cursing himself, Obi-Wan nodded. “It’s Anakin. He’s becoming moody and detached. He’s been put in a difficult position as the Chancellor’s representative, but I think it’s more than that. I was hoping he may have talked to you.”

Padme eyed her companion carefully. “Why would he talk to me about his work? And maybe he’s spoken to Y/N, she’s like a sister to him.”

Obi-Wan studied her for a brief moment before answering. “I’m afraid that’s not much of an option right now. And besides,” he added with a smile, “neither of you is very good at hiding your feelings either.”

“Don’t give me that look.”

Obi-Wan shot her a knowing look, “I know how he feels about you.”

Suddenly growing flustered, Padme changed the topic, drawing the attention away from her. “You said earlier that contacting Y/N isn’t much of an option for Anakin right now. What did you mean by that?” Just by talking about something slightly different allowed Padme to calm down.

Obi-Wan paused before answering. “She is currently off-world. She was called away on a mission.”

Now it was Padme’s turn to study him. “Where exactly did she go?”

“Kamino. Concerning reports came in regarding that system.”

“Kamino?” Padme seemed surprised. “But why her, specifically?”

Her surprise escalated when the smile he sent her was a tight one, as though the question had brought up a particularly painful memory. “Because the Council believes that she has a much better knowledge of the system than most.”

Even though she sensed there was more to the story, Padme lightly shrugged her shoulders and smiled encouragingly. “I’m sure she will be able to handle whatever the Council throws at her.”

That seemed to do the trick. “Yes,” Obi-Wan agreed, “she’s had to deal with Anakin while on campaigns so, I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

Padme chuckled to herself and noticed that despite his optimistic tone, Obi-Wan still seemed on edge. “You worry about her though, don’t you?” Her tone was quieter.

“She has an unpleasant history with the planet,” Obi-Wan revealed to a surprised Padme. “Neither of us thought she would return, least of all her.”

As she watched him descend the steps of her veranda towards his starfighter, Padme sighed almost sadly. She had recognised that look in his sea-shaded eyes as he had spoken of _her_. She herself had been accused of having it where Anakin was concerned.

~ ~ ~

Anakin felt almost compelled to accompany Obi-Wan to the landing platform. His earlier behaviour, he now recognised, had been immature and unwarranted.

“You’re going to need me on this one, Master.”

“Oh, I agree.” Obi-Wan smiled at his friend. “However it may turn out just to be a wild bantha chase.” Turning, he began to head towards the large Assault Cruiser that awaited him.

Anakin’s call of, “Master!” Stops him and he turns back to face him.

Walking a little closer, Anakin continued. “Master, I’ve disappointed you and Y/N…I have not been very appreciative of your training…I have been arrogant and I apologize. I’ve just been so frustrated with the Council. Your friendship and Y/N’s mean everything to me. I would hate to lose it.”

Obi-Wan chuckled before smiling up at his former Padawan. “You are strong and wise, Anakin, and I am very proud of you. As is Y/N, I suspect you are the brother she wishes she had. She would do anything for you.”

Anakin ducked his head as though to hide the smile that was no doubt spreading across his features.

“I have trained you since you were a small boy,” Obi-Wan continued. “I have taught you everything I know. And you have become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be, and you have saved my life more times than I can remember. But be patient, Anakin. It won’t be long before the Council makes you a Jedi Master.”

Only when he was half-way down the boarding ramp, did he turn to face Anakin again, a grin playing at the edges of his mouth. “Don’t worry. I have enough clones with me to take three systems the size of Utapau. I think I’ll be able to handle the situation, even without your help.”

“Well, there’s always a first time,” Anakin acknowledged with a mischievous smile. “And, Obi-Wan? May the Force be with you.”

Obi-Wan bowed and smiled in return, “Good-bye, old friend. May the Force be with you.” With those words, he headed down the rest of the boarding ramp and entered the waiting ship.

As Anakin watched the large vessel leave the platform, he let out a shuddering breath. If only Y/N was there, her snide remarks would make him feel at ease in an instant. If only he knew where she was.

Turning away from the other waiting ships, Anakin headed towards the Senate, where the Chancellor had requested to speak with him. 


	6. Suspicious minds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I can’t shut off, that’s my problem. I have a mind that races a million miles a minute, is easily fixated, and considers every little detail with maddening precision. But if my mind is doomed to be occupied by a singular obsession, for the love of God, I’m glad it is you. ~ Beau Taplin // The Over-thinker

“General.”

Y/N smiled to herself, she had missed being called that. Turning to face the clone, she inclined her head. “Yes, Commander?”

“We have come out of hyperspace, General.”

Y/N nodded, “very good Commander. Tell the men to wait for me in the main hanger, I will be along presently.”

 _‘Kamino’_. Y/N thought with a grimace. Aside from Geonosis, this was the one place she had never hoped to revisit. Waiting until the clone had gone to deliver her message, Y/N sighed and ran her hands through her h/c hair, ‘ _here goes’_ , she thought and schooled her expression into one of neutrality before making her way to the cruiser’s main hanger.

The moment she entered the vast hanger, the men all stood to attention. Calling one of the Commanders to her, she began to relay her plan. “Our main focus is to make sure this system stays with the Republic. The Separatists will most likely focus their attacks on the Capital, Tipoca City. That being said,” she paused to take a breath before continuing. “I want our forces distributed across the planet, in the smaller cities and towns. If they have any sense, the enemy will do the same and I want to be there to counter them.”

The Clone Commander nodded in understanding. He had gone on many campaigns with General Y/L/N and she had proved a cunning warrior and brilliant strategist. “I understand, but General, if I may?”

Y/N nodded and motioned for him to continue.

“No doubt you will be headed to the Capital. May I have the honour of accompanying you?”

Smiling, Y/N nodded. “Of course, Commander. You and I have been on many missions together, why should this time be any different?”

“I thank you, General.”

“Come, Commander,” she inclined her head to where the men still stood unmoving. “Let us tell the others.”

“After you, General.”

Coming to a standstill in front of the men, Y/N folded her hands in front of her and started to speak, her voice loud and clear. “Our mission is to drive the Separtists from the Kamino system. We have been tasked with this by the Jedi High Council. While our main forces will come with me to the Capital, everyone else will be evenly distributed across the planet, into the smaller cities. Now,” she paused and smiled, “this is one of my least favourite planets, so let us not be here any longer than we need to be and besides,” she added with a twinkle in her e/c eyes. “I promised a friend that this wouldn’t take long. Let’s make sure I keep my promise.” Nodding to the men, she was met with cheerful agreement.

“Commander,” she turned to the clone beside her. “Begin landing the men in the areas I mentioned. You, myself and roughly 300 others will go straight to the Capital.”

“Yes, General.”

Satisfied, Y/N headed towards her starfighter that stood waiting nearby.

~ ~ ~ 

Utapau. A planet full of sinkholes. Just the place Obi-Wan had always dreamed of going.

Clone Commander Cody stood beside him as he observed the holographic image of Utapau in front of him.

“Fortunately, most of the cities are concentrated on this small continent here…on the far side.” Cody gestured to the holo as he spoke and glanced at Obi-Wan.

The Jedi nodded in agreement. “I’ll keep them distracted until you get there. Just don’t take too long.” He said as he made his way over to his starfighter and climbed in.

“Come on, boss, when have I ever let you down?” Cody asked, smiling up at the General.

Obi-Wan chuckled before strapping himself in. “Very well, the burden is on me not to destroy all the droids before you get there.” Saluting the Commander, he navigated his fighter out of the hanger and into the hyperspace ring that waited for him.

~ ~ ~

Anakin walked silently beside the Chancellor as they wove their way through the halls of the Senate complex.

“Well, Anakin, did you see your friend off?” Palpatine broke the silence.

Anakin nodded, “he will soon have Grievous’s head,” he said confidently.

“We can only hope the Council didn’t make a mistake.” The Chancellor murmured from beside him.

“The Council was very sure in its decision.” Anakin wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince, himself or the Chancellor?

Silence soon fell between them. Guards and Senators moving out of their way as they went.

“There are rumors in the Senate about Master Kenobi. Many believe he is not fit for this assignment.” Palpatine shot a sideways glance at Anakin as he spoke.

“Not fit?“ Anakin was bewildered as to how someone could come to that conclusion. “Why would anyone think that?”

“They say,” Palpatine paused a brief moment before continuing, “his mind has become fogged by the influence of a certain female.”

“That’s ridiculous. Who?!” Anakin couldn’t possibly think of anyone. Obi-Wan was very reserved.

Palpatine smiled nastily. “No one knows who she is, only that she is someone that both of you are familiar with.”

Anakin’s eyes narrowed in thought. “That’s impossible. I would know.”

“Sometimes the closest are the ones who cannot see,” the Chancellor replied, with false empathy dripping off every word.

Anakin’s eyes remained narrowed and his brow became furrowed in thought.

“Idle Senate gossip is rarely true and never accurate. I’m sure your Master will do fine.” The Chancellor continued, waving his hand in a nonchalant manner.

~ ~ ~

Y/N was soaked to the bone the minute she opened her cockpit. Quickly lifting her hood, she climbed out of her fighter and instructed her R4 unit to fly back to the cruiser.

Watching her fighter leave, Y/N hugged her robes around her in a vain attempt against the violent weather. Checking her utility belt to make sure everything was in place, Y/N made her way over to where the clones had just landed and were disembarking.

“Commander,” she called through the rain and sighed with relief when he headed in her direction.

“Yes, General?”

“Before we get started,” Y/N bit her lip before continuing. “I would like to apologise.”

“Apologise for what, General ?” The clone seemed genuinely confused.

“For what I said, during my speech. I may not like the planet,” her eyes briefly swept over their surroundings. “But it is where you and our men come from. It was insensitive of me.”

Y/N was sure he smiled beneath his helmet. “It’s no matter, General. We may have been created here. But we hold no sentimental attachment to this place. But I appreciate you saying so.”

Y/N grinned and reached for her lightsaber. “Then, shall we get to work? We have a war to win after all.”

“Indeed we do, General.” With those words, he signalled for the landed troops to form up.

Turning her attention to the nearest entrance, Y/N blinked against the perpetual rain. “Commander? Secure the city and destroy any Separatist force you come into contact with. I need to speak with the Prime Minister. I will return soon.”

Nodding by way of an answer, the Commander turned to the assembled men and began to relay her orders.

Y/N sighed with relief as she stepped through the glass doors. Lowering her drenched hood, she brushed wet strands of hair away from her eyes and almost shrieked in surprise when she noticed a tall, pale alien standing before her.

Having finally managed to calm herself, Y/N looked the alien in the eye. “My apologies, but I must speak with your Prime Minister, it is most urgent.”

The alien nodded and wordlessly led her down a series of all-too-familiar white hallways.

Finally coming to a halt, Y/N’s eyes landed on another of the same species, but dressed in robes of status. “Prime Minister,” she bowed respectfully.

“Master Jedi,” the Prime Minister acknowledged. “I am most pleased, and relieved at your presence. I fear my people and I are in grave danger.”

Y/N nodded in understanding. “I have been made aware of your situation, Prime Minister. My men and I, are here to drive the Separatists out of your world and system.”

“I am greatly relieved to hear that,” the Prime Minister stood and approached her. “Do be careful, however, young Jedi. Their droid filth is everywhere.”

Y/N swallowed hard before meeting the Prime Minister’s gaze. “They will not be here for much longer, Prime Minister. Of that I can assure you.” Fighting to keep a neutral expression, she followed her guide back to the entrance.

Y/N lifted her hood in preparation for the rain when the alien beside her, stopped her. “We thank you, Master Jedi-” the sentence was interrupted as the sound of blaster fire sounded and her guide collapsed before her eyes.

Snatching her lightsaber from her belt, Y/N ignited it and turned to face Destroyers that rolled into view. “Come on, then,” she called to them, before backing out of the glass doors.

The droids followed and immediately began to open fire on her.

Between deflecting shots, Y/N glanced around and caught sight of the clones engaged in combat with Super Battle Droids. ‘ _Let the fun begin’_ , she thought grimly to herself.

~ ~ ~

Padme hummed quietly to herself as she moved around the apartment, while Anakin sat silently on the couch in the living area.

As she moved behind him, he looked up, “I sense someone familiar, Obi-Wan’s been here, hasn’t he?”

Padme smiled and nodded. “He came by this morning.” Carrying a shawl over her arm, she made her way into the bedroom.

“What did he want?” Anakin asked, following her. His suspicions were growing.

“He’s worried about you.” Padme stated calmly and laid the item of clothing on the bed before turning back to face her husband. “He says you’re under a lot of stress.”

“And he’s not?” Anakin murmured, half to himself.

“You have been moody lately,” Padme continued and sighed, somewhat heavily.

“I’m not moody-” Anakin started to protest.

“Anakin!” Padme cut him off, “don’t do this again.”

All of a sudden, all the fight seemed to leave him. “I don’t know, I feel…lost.” He looked down as he spoke.

“Lost?” Padme repeated, confused. “What do you mean? You’re always so sure of yourself. I don’t understand.”

Anakin moved to stand by the windows before turning to look at her. “Obi-Wan and the Council don’t trust me.”

Padme blinked rapidly before answering. “They trust you with their lives. Obi-Wan loves you as a son.”

Sighing, Anakin turned back to the windows. “Something’s happening…I’m not the Jedi I should be. I am one of the most powerful Jedi, but I’m not satisfied. I want more, and I know I shouldn’t.”

 _‘Oh Ani’,_ Padme thought to herself before going to him. “You expect too much of yourself.”

Laying a gentle hand on her swollen stomach, Anakin smiled down at her. “I have found a way to save you.”

Padme narrowed her eyes ever-so-slightly. “Save me?”

“From my nightmares.” He murmured, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Is that what’s bothering you?”

“I won’t lose you, Padme,” he said, by way of a reply.

“I’m not going to die in childbirth, Ani. I promise you.” Padme hoped she sounded confident and reassuring.

“No, I promise you!” Anakin pulled her in close as though to illustrate his point.

~ ~ ~

Having left his ship’s hyperspace ring behind, Obi-Wan entered Utapau’s atmosphere.

Navigating his fighter down one of the sinkholes, he soon found a landing platform on which to land. Climbing out of the small craft, Obi-Wan was greeted by a stately-dressed native of the planet.

“Greetings, young Jedi. What brings you to our remote sanctuary?”

Bowing, Obi-Wan replied. “unfortunately, the war.”

The tall alien shook his head. “There is no war here unless you’ve brought it with you.”

Taking a deep breath, Obi-Wan continued. “With your kind permission, I should like some fuel and to use your city as a base as I search nearby systems for General Grievous.”

At a signal from the native, a service crew rushed out and immediately began to re-fuel the fighter.

It was during this, that Obi-Wan received his answer, in hushed tones the alien spoke to him. “He is here! We are being held hostage. They are watching us.”

 _‘Excellent,’_ Obi-Wan thought with an inward smile. “I understand.” He replied in an equally hushed tone.

“The tenth level, thousands of Battle Droids…”

Inclining his head in thanks, he continued. “Tell your people to take shelter. If you have warriors, now is the time.”

Retreating back to his fighter, Obi-Wan climbed back into the cockpit and relayed to his little astromech. “Take the Fighter back to the ship. I’m staying here. Tell Cody I’ve made contact.” When the little droid beeped in confirmation, Obi-Wan slipped out of the craft and watched silently in the shadows as his ship disappeared from sight.


	7. As the clouds obscured the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The monsters in your head are frightening for the very same reason everyone believes they should not be, they aren’t real, because day in and day out you must live with the knowledge that your own mind is working against you, whispering dark things in the middle of the night, disobeying your desperate cries to stop, your own mind is a murderous adversary, an enemy under your skin, and nothing is quite so terrifying. ~ Beau Taplin // The monsters in your head.

Grievous prowled before the assembled Separatist Council. “It won’t be long before the armies of the Republic track us here. I am sending you to the Mustafar system in the Outer Rim. It is a volcanic planet which generates a great deal of scanning interference. You will be safe there.“

“Safe?” Nute Gunray scoffed, not believing the General. “Chancellor Palpatine managed to escape your grip, General, without Count Dooku. I have doubts about your ability to keep us safe.”

“Be thankful, Viceroy,” Grievous snarled. “You have not found yourself in my grip…Your ship is waiting.”

Far above them, unseen, Obi-Wan silently observed everything. Waiting until only the General remained, Obi-Wan shrugged off his robe and unhooked his lightsaber before jumping and landing silently behind Grievous.

“Hello there.”

Surprise flickered in the Droid General’s reptilian eyes. “General Kenobi, you are a bold one. I find your behavior bewildering…Surely you realize you’re doomed.” Turning to his four hulking bodyguards, he commanded them, “kill him!” and nodded towards Obi-Wan.

The four droids advanced on the Jedi with their electro-staffs raised. Without warning, one of the four swings its staff.

Barely managing to duck the blow, Obi-Wan ignited his own weapon and swung at the droid, cutting him clean in half.

Furious, the remaining three stormed towards him.

Stepping back, Obi-Wan called on the Force and it answered, bringing a heavy piece of equipment crashing down from the ceiling, crushing the droids.

Battle droids seemed to creep out of the crevices and close in on Obi-Wan, only stopping when the General stepped forward. “Back away. I will deal with this Jedi slime myself.”

Smirking, Obi-Wan motioned towards Grievous. “Your move.”

“You fool. I have been trained in your Jedi arts by Count Dooku himself.” With those words, Grievous separates his two arms, creating four. Snatching all four lightsabers from his belt, he ignited them. “Attack, Kenobi.”

Assuming a battle stance, Obi-Wan full on grinned. “You forget I trained the Jedi that defeated Count Dooku!”

Enraged, Grievous charged towards him, his four arms wielding the lightsabers in a terrifying, yet skilled display of swordsmanship.

The fight carried them across the vast control room with the droid sharpshooters attempting to get a shot at the Jedi.

Then, in a vicious counterattack, Obi-Wan struck and severed one of Grievous’s arms.

A loud explosion momentarily distracted both parties as they glanced towards the entrance. Clone troopers could be seen attacking and fighting off droids while others abseiled onto landing platforms.

“I may not defeat your droids,” Obi-Wan addressed the General, “but my troops certainly will.”

“Army or not, you must realize you are doomed.”

Obi-Wan shook his head, “I don’t think so.”

At that very moment, twenty or so clones descended into the control room with their ray gun blazing. It all turns to chaos as the droids fight back. Seeing his opportunity, Obi-Wan launched into a series of attacks aimed at Grievous, who, by using his fallen bodyguard’s staff, rigorously defended himself.

Amidst strikes and parries, Obi-Wan called on the Force to hurl Grievous backwards.

Flying backwards, Grievous tumbled from the platform and landed on the level below. Not wasting a moment, he attempted an escape, with Obi-Wan following close behind.

~ ~ ~

The lights of Coruscant began to blink on as the sun hung low on the horizon.

Within the war room of the Jedi Temple, Masters Windu and Mundi, along with Anakin conversed with the absent members of the Council, chiefly among them, Yoda.

“Master Windu, may I interrupt?“ Commander Cody’s hologram flickered to life. “General Kenobi has made contact with General Grievous, and we have begun our attack.”

Mater Windu nodded in acknowledgement. “Thank you, Commander.“ Turning to Anakin, he spoke, “Anakin, deliver this report to the Chancellor. His reaction will give us a clue to his intentions.”

Bowing, Anakin replied, “yes, Master,” before turning and leaving the room the same time as Commander Cody’s hologram disappeared.

Waiting until Anakin was out of earshot and well on his way, Master Windu took a deep breath before addressing the remaining Masters. “I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi. The Dark Side of the Force surrounds the Chancellor.”

Beside him, Ki-Adi-Mundi agreed. “If he does not give up his emergency powers after the destruction of Grievous, then he should be removed from   
office.”

“That could be a dangerous move,” Mace said thoughtfully “… the Jedi Council would have to take control of the Senate in order to secure a peaceful transition…”

“…and replace the Congress with Senators who are not filled with greed and corruption.” Ki-Adi-Mundi completed the sentence and thought.

“To a dark place this line of thought will carry us. Hmmmmm..great care we must take.” Yoda warned the two Masters.

Bowing respectfully, Ki-Adi-Mundi took his leave.

Turning to Yoda, Mace sighed heavily. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Because is so, then we are in greater danger than we thought.”

Yoda nodded. “Perhaps, right she was.” Meeting his colleague’s dark gaze, he continued. “But gone, she is. To Kamino.”

~ ~ ~

“Chancellor,” Anakin greeted Palpatine as he stepped into his private office. “we have just received a report from Master Kenobi. He has engaged General Grievous.”

Standing up, Palpatine smiled and approached Anakin. “We can only hope that Master Kenobi is up to the challenge.”

“I should be there with him,” Anakin murmured, disappointment and longing seeping into the words.

“It is upsetting to me to see that the Council doesn’t seem to fully appreciate your talents. Don’t you wonder why they won’t make you a Jedi Master?” The Chancellor asked, his eyes sweeping over Anakin and his reactions.

Anakin replied with a half-hearted shrug, “I wish I knew. More and more I get the feeling that I am being excluded from the Council. I know there are things about the Force that they are not telling me.”

“They don’t trust you, Anakin.“ Palpatine stated, “they see your future. They know your power will be too strong to control. Anakin,” Palpatine turned to fully face him. “You must break through the fog of lies the Jedi have created around you. Let me help you to know the subtleties of the Force.”

As they continued to walk, they eventually came to a small hallway. Anakin narrowed his eyes as he looked at the Chancellor. “How do you know the ways of the Force?”

“My mentor taught me everything about the Force” Palpatine said simply, before pausing, “…even the nature of the dark side.”

This brought Anakin to a shocked standstill. “You know the dark side?!?”

“Anakin,” the Chancellor explained, “if one is to understand the great mystery, one must study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic, narrow view of the Jedi. If you wish to become a complete and wise leader, you must embrace a larger view of the Force. Be careful of the Jedi, Anakin. They fear you. In time they will destroy you. Let me train you.”

Anakin couldn’t believe what he was hearing! “I won’t be a pawn in your political game. The Jedi are my family. Y/N, who you accused of being disloyal, is like my sister! I won’t betray her or Obi-Wan or any of them!”

Palpatine sighed, somewhat impatiently before continuing on as though Anakin hadn’t spoken. “Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. Learn to know the dark side of the Force, Anakin, and you will be able to save your wife from certain death.”

Anakin stopped short and blinked at the Chancellor. “What did you say?” He prayed he had misheard.

“Use my knowledge, I beg you…”

“You’re a Sith Lord!” Anakin exclaimed, shocked beyond belief. Igniting his lightsaber, he struggled to keep calm. “Y/N was right to warn me about you. As the Council was, to be wary of you.”

“Ah yes,” Palpatine purred. “Young Y/N. With her voices of what is to come. A powerful apprentice she would have made.” He glanced back at Anakin, who stood frozen in horrified silence. “But alas, she chose _them_ , she chose _him_.”

Then, before Anakin had a chance to say anything, Palpatine smiled and switched the conversation back to him. “I know what has been troubling you …Listen to me. Don’t continue to be a pawn of the Jedi Council! Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been searching for a life greater than that of an ordinary Jedi…a life of significance, of conscience.”

“You’re wrong!” Anakin all but snarled at him, finally having shaken himself from the shocked trance he had fallen into.

Turning away from him, the Chancellor smirked. “Are you going to kill me?” Knowing full well what the answer would be.

Shocked, angry and horrified, Anakin gripped his ignited lightsaber in a death grip. “I would certainly like to.”

“I know you would. I can feel your anger. It gives you focus, makes you stronger.”

Raising his lightsaber to rest mere inches away from the Chancellor’s throat, Anakin clenched his jaw so tight he feared his teeth would break. After a moment of tense silence between them, Anakin seemed to calm down. Lowering his weapon, he deactivated it. “I am going to turn you over to the Jedi Council.“

“Of course you should.” Palpatine spoke up. “But you’re not sure of their intentions, are you?”

“I will quickly discover the truth of all this.” Anakin replied confidently.

Palpatine lowered his voice. “You have great wisdom, Anakin. Know the power of the dark side. The power to save Padme.”

Choosing not to say anything, Anakin narrows his eyes at the Chancellor before turning and sweeping from the room.

~ ~ ~

The chase through the one of Utapau’s sinkhole cities, was not something Obi-Wan ever wanted to do again.

After his mount, a giant lizard called Boga, had caught up to the devious Droid General, Obi-Wan had leapt from her back, onto the General’s speeder bike. They had raced through the tunnels at a blinding speed, each determined to end the other.

They had become so focused on their targets that both had failed to notice that the end of the tunnel was in sight. Looking up just in time, Obi-Wan’s momentary distraction allowed him to be thrown from the bike, taking Grievous with him.

As the bike tumbled over the edge of the platform, Obi-Wan launched himself at Grievous. Having dropped his lightsaber during the chase, he resorted to hand-to-hand combat. This did not go so well. The General proved to be a worthy adversary and a strong one at that.

During the fight, however, the General’s breastplate came lose. Having noticed this, Obi-Wan reached out and pried open the casing, thus revealing the alien General’s vital organs.

Enraged, Grievous struck the Jedi, sending him tumbling over the edge.

Barely managing to maintain a grip on the platform’s edge, Obi-Wan began to hoist himself up when Grievous advanced on him. Obi-Wan’s eyes swept the platform, desperate for a weapon. Having spotted the droid’s fallen blaster, Obi-Wan called on the Force to help him reach the blaster.

The moment he held the weapon, Obi-Wan open fired on Grievous, aiming for the still-exposed organs.

The General immediately caught fire and within mere seconds, he seemed to implode before collapsing to the ground in a charred heap.

Finally managing to pull himself up onto the platform, Obi-Wan throws the blaster to the side with a look of disgust. “So uncivilized…”

Whistling for his mount, he wasted no time in climbing back into the saddle and directing her into the tunnels and down to where the clones were no doubt, still very busy with Separatist forces.

~ ~ ~

The sun had completely set by the time Anakin arrived back at the Temple. Racing to find what Council members he could, he skidded to halt just outside the Temple’s hanger.

“Master Windu? I must talk to you.”

Turning at the sound of his name, the Korun Master came face-to-face with an out of breath Anakin. “What is it, Skywalker? We are in a hurry. We have just received word that Obi-Wan has destroyed General Grievous. We are on our way to make sure the Chancellor returns emergency powers back to the Senate.”

Anakin vehemently shook his head. “He won’t give up his power. I’ve just learned a terrible truth. I think Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord.”

“A Sith Lord?” Mace repeated in disbelief. Anakin was beginning to sound a lot like someone else he knew all too well.

“Yes.” Anakin nodded and tried to catch his breath. “The one we have been looking for. The one Y/N warned us about.”

_Yes,_ Mace thought to himself, _she had indeed_. To Anakin, he motioned for him to walk beside him to the gunship that stood waiting. “How do you know this?”

“He knows the ways of the Force. He has been trained to use the Dark Side.” Anakin stood a little straighter as his confidence grew.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.“

Mace said nothing, deep in thought before turning to fully face Anakin. “Then our worst fears have been realized. We must move quickly if the Jedi Order is to survive. “

“Master, the Chancellor is very powerful. You will need my help if you are going to arrest him.”

“For your own good, stay out of this affair. I sense a great deal of confusion in you, young Skywalker. There is much fear that clouds your judgment.” Mace said to Anakin and stepped on board the gunship.

But Anakin wouldn’t be left behind, not again. “I must go, Master.”

“No.” Master Windu shook his head. “If what you told me is true, you will have gained my trust, but for now remain here.”

Sighing in defeat, Anakin nodded and bowed. “Yes, Master.”

“Wait for us in the Council Chamber until we return.”

Anakin watched silently as the gunship left the hanger, taking with it, the remaining members of the High Council.

After a few moments, he left the hanger and headed to the Council Chamber as instructed.

The orange light of dusk tinted the Council chamber as Anakin entered and stood by the tall windows. His blue gaze locked onto a building some distance away, his thoughts directed themselves to Padme. Who at that very moment was mirroring his actions and thinking of him.

Letting out a long breath, Anakin moved to sit in one of the empty Council seats and tried to remain calm, but his memory and paranoid conscience would not let him.

_“You do know, don’t you, if the Jedi destroy me, any chance of saving her will be lost.”_ Palpatine’s voice floated through his mind. Taunting him.

_“Just promise me you’ll take her and go somewhere safe.”_ The memory of Y/N’s pleading eyes drifted to the forefront of his memory. _“Promise me, Anakin.”_

Anakin squeezed his eyes shut to stop the sudden tears, but one escaped. “I’m so sorry Y/N,” he whispered, “but I can’t do this…I can’t let her die.” With those words, he left the Council chambers and headed back to the hanger. Locating his speeder, he jumped in and as soon as the hanger doors opened, he punched the thruster to maximum.


	8. A betrayal by our own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You cannot always be a storm of a person. It does not give your sadness power to admit that sometimes your hands shake like houses in a hurricane when you think of where you’ll be two years from now. It is utterly human to be occasionally fragile. ~ Beau Taplin // Hurricane

Y/N had long since lost track of how long it had been since they had landed. Soaked to the bone and struggling to keep from slipping on the dangerously smooth surfaces, she sliced through droids and deflected blaster bolts. All around her, chaos reigned, droids as well as clones fell.

Now, locked in combat with a particularly vicious spider droid, Y/N felt her feet edge dangerously close to the edge of the platform on which she was standing. One slip and she would go crashing into the turbulent waters below. Not liking heights all that much, she forced herself not to think of just how high up she was. Focusing instead on the menacing eyes of the droid that was steadily forcing her backwards.

“Right,” she said to the droid, “I’ve had about enough of this.” Taking a deep breath, she steadied her breathing and prayed that her next move would not be her cause of death. Gripping her lightsaber tight, she called on the Force to propel her up and over her opponent. Landing somewhat smoothly on the other side, she wasted no time in slicing the droid’s head clean off.

Deactivating her lightsaber, Y/N had to duck in order to dodge a blast from an approaching battle droid. Her sword arm lashed out, throwing the droid back.

_“I HATE YOU.”_

The sheer guttural tone threw Y/N off her focus. That was a voice she had never hoped to hear. So full of anger and utter hatred. The force behind the shouted words, mixed with the knowledge of who it belonged to, physically threw Y/N off balance. Stumbling the short distance backwards, she barely registered how close she was to the edge. Finding it hard to breathe, she tried to convince herself that she had imagined it. _Anakin is safe_ , she told herself, _he is with Padme, somewhere far away._

It all happened at once _._ The heel of her boot slipped over the edge of the platform. One foot followed the other.

~ ~ ~

The four remaining members of the Jedi High Council strode purposefully into the Chancellor’s office.

“Master Windu. I take it General Grievous has been destroyed then. I must say, you’re here sooner than expected.” Palpatine glanced between the Council members. His eyes narrowed slightly.

“In the name of the Galactic Senate of the Republic, you are under arrest, Chancellor.” Master Windu’s words were emphasised with the sounds of lightsabers igniting.

Palpatine’s lips curled, “are you threatening me, Master Jedi?”

“The Senate will decide your fate.”

“I am the Senate,” Palpatine hissed venomously.

“Not yet!”

The Chancellor rose to a standing position. “It’s treason, then.” His words were accompanied by the hiss of a blade igniting. The blood red of the Sith appeared from the handle Palpatine held.

Three Jedi against one Sith. Palpatine cut them down before they even had a chance to fight back.

Not letting the death of his colleagues distract him, Mace Windu fought the Chancellor with the ferocity and skill he was known for.

The brutality of the fight soon escalated and had taken the opponents into the Chancellor’s office. Between parries and blows, Mace struck the wall of windows, causing them to shatter on impact.

The cold night air rushed into the room. Along with it, came Anakin.

The sight he was greeted with was one he never thought he’d see. Palpatine seemingly at the mercy of Master Windu.

“You are under arrest, My Lord.” His words draw Anakin’s attention fully to him.

“Anakin!” Palpatine spoke up, cowering from the lightsaber that was mere inches from his face. “I told you it would come to this. I was right. The Jedi are taking over.”

“You old fool” Mace moved closer to the cowering Chancellor, “the oppression of the Sith will never return. Your plot to regain control of the Republic is over…you have lost…”

“No,” Palpatine shook his head and smiled coldly, “No! You will die!”

Anakin watched in horror as lightning erupted from his hands and shot directly for the Korun Jedi Master.

“He is a traitor Anakin,” Palpatine continued, lightning continued to pulse from his outstretched hands.

“He’s the traitor. Stop him!” Mace cried out, struggling to hold his own against the Sith Lord.

“Come to your senses, boy.” Palpatine hissed. “The Jedi are in revolt. They will betray you, just as they betrayed me.”

Anakin’s blue eyes danced between the two of them. They widened as he saw the lightning begin to rebound from Master Windu’s lightsaber.

“You are not one of them, Anakin. Don’t let him kill me.” The Chancellor pleaded with him as the lightning burnt into his skin, horribly disfiguring it. “I am your pathway to power. I have the power to save the one you love. You must choose. You must stop him.”

“Don’t listen to him, Anakin.” Mace managed to say as the struggle to hold his ground became harder.

“Help me!” The Chancellor begged Anakin. “Don’t let him kill me. I can’t hold on any longer.” His hands began to tremble as his eyes turned the horrid yellow of the Sith. The struggle to intensify his power was becoming evident. “I can’t…I give up. Help me. I am weak…I am too weak. Don’t kill me. I give up. I’m dying. I can’t hold on any longer.”

Mace held no sympathy for the man. “You Sith disease. I am going to end this once and for all.”

“You can’t kill him, Master.“ Anakin finally stepped in, glancing briefly at the fallen Chancellor. “He must stand trial.”

“He has too much control of the Senate and the Courts. He is too dangerous to be kept alive.”

Anakin shook his head. “It is not the Jedi way…”

Mace disregarded Anakin’s reasoning and raised his lightsaber, poised for the fatal blow.

“He must live…” Anakin continued, insisting all the more.

“Please don’t, please don’t..” Palpatine begged as the lightsaber came closer.

“I need him…” Anakin tried one last time.

The Chancellor’s eyes widened in fear as Mace Windu’s lightsaber reared back for the killing blow. “Please don’t…”

With a passionate cry of denial, Anakin lurched forward. Igniting his own weapon, he struck the Jedi Master, severing his sword arm.

Taking advantage of his opponent’s distraction, Palpatine struck, and more viciously than before. “Power! Unlimited power!”

Anakin watched in horror as bolts of Sith lightning surrounded the injured Master. He stood frozen as Mace tried to defend himself. But the force of the lightning was too great and sent him plummeting to his death.

Anakin stumbled back, horrified at what he had allowed to happen, his lightsaber dropping to the ground beside him. “What have I done?” He had never wanted any of this!

“You are fulfilling your destiny, Anakin.” Palpatine spoke from above him. “Become my apprentice. Learn to use the dark side of the Force.”

Anakin made to reply when a pair of familiar e/c eyes appeared before his own.

_“Promise me Anakin.”_

Those three words twisted at his already conflicted heart. He had never broken a promise to her in his life. He never would have imagined that he would be called upon to do just that.

“I will do whatever you ask.” With those words, he betrayed her. Looking down, he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to drown out the memory of her worried, yet devoted voice. Of those eyes that had pleaded with him more than words ever could. Of the smile that spoke of the love of a sister.

At Anakin’s words, Palpatine smiled. “Good.“ He purred. This was very good indeed. Despite Y/N’s influence, Anakin was finally his.

“Just help me save Padme’s life.” Anakin all but begged, “I can’t live without her. I won’t let her die. I want the power to stop death.”

“To cheat death is a power only one has achieved, but if we work together, I know we can discover the secret.”

Anakin moved to kneel before him and bowed. “I pledge myself to your teachings. To the ways of the Sith.” There was no going back now.

Palpatine let out a long, drawn out breath. “Good. Good. The Force is strong with you. A powerful Sith you will become. Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth…Vader.”

Anakin swayed slightly as he bowed once more. “Thank you. my Master.”

Retrieving his fallen lightsaber, Vader followed his new Master, who raised a hood to hide his disfigurement.

“Because the Council did not trust you, my young apprentice, I believe you are the only Jedi with no knowledge of this plot. When the Jedi learn what has transpired here, they will kill us, along with all the Senators.”

Vader nodded, following his Master’s train of thought. “I agree. The Jedi’s next move will be against the Senate.”

“Every single Jedi, including your friend Obi-Wan Kenobi, is now an enemy of the Republic. You understand that, don’t you? Even Y/N Y/L/N, whom you saw as a sister.”

Vader agreed wordlessly. Those two names had a power over him which he hoped to be soon rid of.

“We must move quickly.” Palpatine continued. “The Jedi are relentless; if they are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end. First,” he turned to Vader, “I want you to go to the Jedi Temple. We will catch them off balance. Do what must be done, Lord Vader. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy. Only then will you be strong enough with the dark side to save Padme.”

“What about the other Jedi spread across the galaxy?” Vader asked after a brief pause.

“Their betrayal will be dealt with. After you have killed all the Jedi in the Temple, go to the Mustafar system. Wipe out Viceroy Gunray and the other Separatist leaders. Once more, the Sith will rule the galaxy, and we shall have peace.”

Taking leave of his new Master, Vader wasted no time in assembling the number of troops he needed in storming the Temple.

~ ~ ~

Skidding to a halt beside Cody, Obi-Wan leaned down towards him and began to relay his instructions. “Commander, contact your troops. Tell them to move to the higher levels.”

Cody nodded in acknowledgement. “Very good, sir.”

Satisfied, Obi-Wan re-adjusted his hold on the reins and made to leave when Cody spoke up from beside him. “Oh, by the way, I think you’ll be needing this.” He held up Obi-Wan’s fallen lightsaber and gave it to the Jedi.

“Thank you, Cody.” He smiled down at the clone. “Now let’s get a move on. We’ve got a battle to win here.”

Cody smiled back and nodded. “Yes, sir!”

Urging his mount forward, Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber and, with the help of Boga, began to advance up the stony walls of the sinkhole.

Far below him, Commander Cody pulled out his hologram device, having heard it’s alert.

The figure of Darth Sidious hovered before him. “Commander Cody, the time has come. Execute Order Sixty-Six.”

“It will be done, My Lord.” He replied and without hesitation, he gestured towards Obi-Wan and commanded his men. “Blast him!”

From one moment to the next, Obi-Wan felt the world explode around him. The rocks beneath him gave way in a powerful blast, sending him plummeting downwards towards the deep pool at the bottom of the sinkhole.

Worry for Y/N instantly took over. What his troopers had done to him, would hers do to her?

~ ~ ~

“General?”

Y/N almost laughed in relief. Nodding, she smiled shakily up at the clone that had stopped her from falling a good forty or so meters.

Allowing him to pull her to safety, Y/N took a series of deep breaths in order to try and calm her frayed nerves. “Thank you for that, for not letting me fall.”

The clone smiled at her beneath his helmet. “I do believe your fear of heights is warranted, General.”

Y/N laughed and nodded. “Yes, now more than ever.” Reaching for her lightsaber, she sighed in relief when she found it hanging securely from her belt. Brushing strands of wet hair away from her eyes, Y/N suddenly realised how quiet it was. The sounds of gunfire had stopped.

“Commander?” She called as two gunships circled the air above her. “Commander, what’s going on?” Looking around, she noticed her troops standing a little way off. Before she could utter another word, she saw her Commander give a signal she knew all too well.

Within moments the platform on which she stood erupted around her, the force of the explosion sent Y/N flying backwards and hurtling down towards the raging waters below.

Her promise to him echoed in her ears the whole way down. _You won’t even have time to miss me._


	9. Presumptions and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t think you will ever understand the depth and severity of the damage you have done. Your lies and betrayal shred through me like shattered glass. To this day, I am still pulling shards of you from my heart. ~ Beau Taplin // Shattered Glass

For Padme it seemed as though her world had stopped spinning. Her eyes remained locked on the pillar of smoke that issued from the Jedi Temple. Reports had flooded in, telling of battalions of clones entering the temple.

“The Chancellor’s office indicated Master Anakin returned to the Jedi Temple.” C-3PO spoke up from behind her. “Don’t worry, My Lady. I am sure he will be all right.”

Those were the last words Padme wanted to hear at present. She did not bother to hide the tears that ran down her cheeks.

~ ~ ~ 

Senator Bail Organa sped through the haze that now seemed to cover the entire city-wide planet. Plumes of black smoke in the distance guide the Senator to his destination.

Landing on one of the Temple’s landing platforms, Bail climbed out of his speeder and was alarmed to find the Temple in a state of chaos. Seeing four clone troopers standing guard, Bail approached them. “What’s going on here?!?”

“There’s been a rebellion. Don’t worry, sir, the situation is under control.” The Clone Sergeant assured him.

Bail found it difficult to associate the Jedi with something as violent as a rebellion.

“I’m sorry, sir.” The Sergeant stepped forward, preventing Bail from going any further. “No one is allowed entry.“

Moving as one, the four troopers aimed their loaded blasters at the at the Senator. “It’s time for you to leave, sir.”

Seeing that he would not be able to get past them, Bail raised his hands and began to back away. “And so it is.” He reluctantly returned to his speeder, when behind him a volley of blasts caught his attention.

Whirling around, Bail’s eyes locked onto the form of a young Padawan who was bravely holding his own against the troopers.

Soon, more clones come running and join in the fray. One Commander sees Bail and points to him. “ Get him! Shoot him!”

Alarmed, Bail dodged the blasts and all but fell into his waiting speeder. Fumbling with the controls, he disappeared into the hazy pre-dawn light.

~ ~ ~

Diving headfirst into the water provided Obi-Wan with minimal cover from the endless assault of blaster fire. Swimming deeper, he struggled to retrieve his breathing device from his utility belt. Finally pulling it free, he pushed it into his mouth and swam as far from the battle as he could.

Hearing no more shots being fired, Obi-Wan finally came up for air. Tucking the breathing device back into his belt, he began to scale the rocky wall of the cave he had swum into.

He had managed to make considerable progress when two small Seeker Droids emerged from the water, their small but blinding lights sweeping the area. Holding his breath, Obi-Wan pressed himself against the wall and waited for the droids to pass him by.

Just as the droid seemed to close in on him, a huge aquatic creature, the Nos Monster lunges out of the water and consumes it.

The fight that ensues between the droid and the Nos, gave Obi-Wan sufficient enough time to creep to the back of the cave and into the tunnel systems beyond.

Being careful to avoid the major landing platforms, Obi-Wan overheard the clones talking. “Did you find Kenobi?”

Ducking into an alcove, he watched them pass.

“No one could have survived that fall.” A clone answered and Obi-Wan held his breath.

“Start loading your men on the ship.” The Captain commanded, seemingly satisfied.

“Yes, sir.”

Waiting until their footsteps has faded completely, Obi-Wan stepped out of his hiding place and silently made his way down a flight of stairs before coming to the very same landing platform on which he had killed Grievous.

Not taking any chances, Obi-Wan leaped into the waiting Trade Federation fighter that stood nearby. Firing up the engines, he navigated his way out of the sinkhole and out of the atmosphere.

It was only when he was able to observe the planet from outside its orbit, did Obi-Wan let out the breath he’d been holding.

Not quite relaxing in the safety harness, Obi-Wan ran a hand through his hair. For once in his life, he had no idea what to do. Should he go to Kamino and risk the clones ? Or should he ask for help from anyone that might be listening ?

A rapid beeping sound interrupted his thoughts and it seemed to increase until it became a single, steady sound.

Taking a deep breath, Obi-Wan spoke into his comlink. “Emergency Code Nine Thirteen…I have no contact on any frequency. Are there any Jedi out there?…anywhere…” He held his breath, hoping against all odds that it would be _her_ voice that would answer him. 

Mere moments later, a static is heard, followed by a flickering holo image. “…Kenobi…”

Narrowing his eyes to better focus on the figure, Obi-Wan spoke, “ I’ve locked on. Repeat.”

Then, the image pulled into focus, displaying a familiar face. “Master Kenobi??”

“Senator Organa!” Obi-Wan replied, surprised. “My Clone Troops turned on me…I need help.”

“We have just rescued Master Yoda. It appears this ambush has happened everywhere. We’re sending you our coordinates.”

Nodding in thanks, Obi-Wan waited until the holo disappeared before letting out a shuddering breath. Anakin and Y/N. Surely they would have managed to escape as he had.

_“I’ll be back before you know it.”_ Her voice echoed around him, reassuring him and comforting him with the fact that she could still be out there somewhere.

~ ~ ~

Coruscant’s lights began to fade as the sun began to rise.

Padme had not moved from her spot, her eyes remained on the smoke that rose steadily in the distance.

“My Lady, there’s a Jedi fighter docking on the veranda.“ C-3PO informed her as he entered the room.

Not thinking twice, Padme turned and ran in the direction of the outdoor living area. As soon as she saw him, she rushed towards him and threw her arms around his neck. He did likewise.

“Are you all right? I heard there was an attack on the Jedi Temple…you can see the smoke from here.” She spoke quickly, her fear and worry leaking into her voice.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Anakin reassured her. “I came to see if you and the baby are safe.”

“Captain Typho’s here, we’re safe.“ Padme replied, a little calmer. “What’s happening?”

Anakin didn’t reply straight away, but when he did, his voice was grave. “The situation is not good. The Jedi have tried to overthrow the Republic…”

Padme’s dark eyes widened in disbelief. “I can’t believe that!”

“I couldn’t either at first, but it’s true. I saw Master Windu attempt to assassinate the Chancellor myself.”

Padme couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Anakin, what are you going to do?” Her eyes followed him as he turned away from her.

“I will not betray the Republic…my loyalties lie with the Chancellor and with the Senate…and with you.” He replied confidently, looking her in the eye.

“What about Obi-Wan?” Padme questioned, “and Y/N? Where do they fit in all of this.”

“I don’t know…Many Jedi have been killed. We can only hope that they’ve remained loyal to the Chancellor.”

Padme nodded thoughtfully. “How could this have happened?”

“The Republic is unstable, Padme.” Anakin explained. “The Jedi aren’t the only ones trying to take advantage of the situation. There are also traitors in the Senate.”

Padme hoped her face remained neutral. Inside her heart hammered wildly. “What are you saying?”

“You need to distance yourself from your friends in the Senate.” Anakin looked her in the eye. “The Chancellor said they will be dealt with when this conflict is over.”

“What if they start an inquisition? I’ve opposed this war. What will you do if I become a suspect?” Her rapid fire questions betrayed her state-of-mind.

“That won’t happen. I won’t let it.” Anakin spoke confidently and smiled down at her.

“Oh, Anakin, I’m afraid.” Her voice trembled slightly.

“Have faith, my love.” Anakin murmured. “Everything will soon be set right. The Chancellor has given me a very important mission. The Separatists have gathered in the Mustafar system. I’m going there to end this war. Wait for me until I return…things will be different, I promise.”

Padme gratefully accepted and returned the kiss he gave her.

Breaking the kiss, Anakin gently brushed her cheek with his forefinger. “ Please, wait for me.”

“I will,” Padme promised and watched with a heavy heart as Anakin climbed into his fighter and departed.

~ ~ ~

“You made it.” Bail Organa said by way of greeting.

Obi-Wan smiled in response.

“Master Kenobi, dark times are these. Good to see you. it is.” Yoda spoke up from beside the Senator.

“You were attacked by your Clones, also?” Obi-Wan asked.

“With the help of the Wookiees, barely escape, I did.” Yoda explained.

Struggling to keep a tight reign on his reeling emotions, Obi-Wan asked. “How many other Jedi managed to survive?”

“Heard from no one, have we.”

Obi-Wan asked, trying not to sound too desperate. “Any word from Kamino?

Bail and Yoda glanced at each other before Yoda stepped forward. “Fallen, that system has.”

“Has she made contact?” Obi-Wan asked the Grand Master, who looked at him with a sadness in his eyes.

“Heard from her, we have not.” He replied.

Obi-Wan swallowed hard before nodding stiffly.

“I saw thousands of troops attack the Jedi Temple. That’s why I went looking for Yoda.” Bail spoke up from behind them, drawing their attention to him.

“Have we had any contact from the Temple?” Obi-Wan asked, his voice quieter than before.

Yoda nodded. “Received a coded retreat message, we have.”

“It requests all Jedi to return to the Temple. It says that the war is over…” Bail explained.

“Well, then we must go back!” Obi-Wan exclaimed. “If there are other stragglers, they will fall into the trap and be killed.”

Bail shook his head. “ It’s too dangerous to return.” He murmured.

Yoda turned to Obi-Wan and smiled. “Suggest dismantling the coded signal, do you?”

Obi-Wan nodded. “Yes, Master. There is too much at stake here, and we need a clearer picture of what has happened.”

“I agree.” Yoda replied thoughtfully. “In a dark place we find ourselves … a little more knowledge might light our way.”

~ ~ ~

Finally managing to break the surface, Y/N gasped for breath. She fought to keep her head above the water as the endless waves buffeted her from every side.

_Brilliant,_ she thought, _as if I needed another reason to dislike this planet._ Feeling her robe weigh her down, Y/N pulled it off while trying not to swallow any more water.

Looking around, she realised just how far she was from any settlement. Her eyes swept her surroundings and noticed with some relief that there was no sign of the clones that had unexpectedly turned on her.

“Well, I can’t stay here,” she murmured to herself and began to swim. Her arms and legs soon began to ache and she hoped and prayed that she was getting closer to one of the stilted cities.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, Y/N’s desperate eyes locked onto the rounded forms of a Kaminoan city. “Come on,” she urged herself, “we’re almost there.”

Y/N was surprised that she even made it to one of the city’s metal legs. Reaching out with a trembling hand, she grasped one of the metal rungs that formed part of a service ladder. Forcing her exhausted arms and legs to cooperate, Y/N pulled herself from the water and proceeded to climb the ladder until she was level with one of the numerous walkways.

As soon as she stepped off the ladder, her legs collapsed beneath her. Y/N simply lay there, not knowing what to do. Her troopers had turned her and she had almost drowned. From the looks of it, the clones had left, taking her starfigher with them. Pushing herself into a sitting position, Y/N looked out over the watery expanse.

_I made a promise_ , she reminded herself. With that thought, she pushed herself into a standing position and stumbled her way to the nearest entrance.

She was met with silence and carnage. Struggling to stay upright, Y/N used the walls as support as she made her way through the silent city. Every time she came across an exit to a landing platform, she would look and see if there was ship. Each time she was disappointed.

Then, finally, she found one. It was small and reminded Y/N of one of Naboo’s sea creatures. Not wishing to tempt fate, she stumbled back out into the torrential rain and climbed on board. Her trembling hands made using the controls a nightmare, but finally she managed to fire up the engines.

“I’m coming Obi-Wan,” she murmured as the ship took off. “I will see you soon.”


	10. Before the Dark Times.....

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ultimately, the worst kinds of pain do not come from your enemies but the people you trust and love. ~ Beau Taplin // Enemies

Mustafar. A hellish planet of fire and ash. Volcanoes spewed lava like fountains and molten rock flowed like water over blackened shores. It was here that the Separatist Council had fled to.

Now, holed up in the planet’s main control centre, Nute Gunray spoke with a hologram of Darth Sidious. “The plan has gone as you had promised, My Lord.”

“You have done well, Viceroy.” Sidious replied, “When my new apprentice, Darth Vader, arrives, he will take care of you.”

Despite the ominous nature of the words, the Council bowed and nodded in thanks before the hologram disappeared.

~ ~ ~

As Coruscant blinked into view, the ship’s occupants prepared themselves for what they would potentially be facing.

A small beeping sounded as they got closer to the planet. “We are receiving a message from the Chancellor’s office, sir.” One of the pilots informed Bail.

“Send it through.” Bail instructed and all waited with baited breath.

Mas Amedda, the Chancellor’s aide came onto the screen. “Senator Organa…the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic requests your presence at a special session of Congress.”

Bail answered as calmly as he could. Not giving anything away, “tell the Chancellor I will be there.”

The alien nodded, satisfied. “Very well. He will be expecting you.”

As soon as he disappeared from the screen, the Senator turned to the two Jedi. “It could be a trap ?”

Obi-Wan shook his head in answer. “No, I don’t think so. The Chancellor will not be able to control the thousands of star systems without keeping the Senate intact.“

Yoda seemed to agree. “If a special session of Congress there is, easier for us to enter the Jedi Temple it will be.”

~ ~ ~ 

It was not long before Vader’s starfighter came out of hyperspace. Before him lay the fiery world of Mustafar. Passing through it’s atmosphere, Vader quickly located the landing platform that was connected to the Main Control Centre.

Having landed his fighter, Vader climbed out and lifted his hood and began to make his way to the main complex. Only when he heard Artoo follow, did he pause and turn slightly and speak to the droid. “Artoo…stay with the ship.”

Letting out a series of beeps that sounded like a heavy sigh, the droid retreated.

Vader, for his part, strode straight into the Control Centre.

The assembled Separatists looked up on his arrival and Nute Gunray greeted him, unaware of the Sith’s true intentions. “Welcome, Lord Vader. We’ve been expecting you.”

Vader said nothing. Calling on the Force, he sealed off the exits of the room in which they were gathered.

~ ~ ~

As Yoda and Obi-Wan approached the smoking hulk of the Temple, the clones that stood guard noticed them and immediately began to open fire.

The fight was brutal, but thankfully short. The troopers, despite being more in number soon fell under the swift and well-aimed strikes of the lightsabers.

~ ~ ~

Hurrying through the Senate Building’s vast hallways, Bail finally found his way to the Senate Pod that represented Naboo. He immediately sat down next to Padme, who’s eyes were locked on the figure who stood tall in the centre.

“…and the Jedi Rebellion has been foiled.” Sidous’s voice rang out, addressing the assembled Senators.

“I was held up.” Bail whispered to Padme, “what’s happening?”

Padme didn’t take her eyes off the Chancellor as she answered her friend, her tone grave. “The Chancellor has been elaborating on a plot by the Jedi, to overthrow the Senate.”

Bail stared at her in disbelief. “That’s not true!“ He had seen the truth with his own eyes.

“He’s been presenting evidence all afternoon.” Padme stated, her dark eyes narrowed at the hooded man in the middle.

“And the Senate will go along with it, just like they always do.” Bail tried not to sound too defeatist, but it was the truth.

From the Senate’s centre, Sidous continued. “The remaining Jedi will be hunted down and defeated.“ He paused as countless Senators applauded in approval. “Any collaborators will suffer the same fate.”

~ ~ ~

The Temple was as silent as a tomb as the two Jedi entered. The smell of burning and ruin hung thick in the air. The sight of carnage that greeted them was beyond anything either could have imagined.

The light of the setting sun shone into the vast, empty hallways and illuminated the morbid display of slain Jedi. Knights, Masters and Padwans alike. Whoever was responsible had not discriminated with ranks.

Kneeling by young student, Obi-Wan lay a gentle hand on the still form. “Not even the younglings survived.” The grief in his voice was evident, as well as in his sea-shaded eyes.

Beside him, Yoda took a shuddering breath and leaned heavily on his gimer stick. “Killed not by clones, this Padawan. By a lightsaber, he was.”

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes in thought and turned to face the Grand Master. “Who?? Who could have done this?”

~ ~ ~

Vader’s face remained expressionless as he carried out his Master’s commands. He swept through the room like the Angel of Death, the screams of his victims were cut short as he steadily slaughtered the assembled Separatist Council.

Those that tried to run soon met their fate at his hand, his lightsaber slicing fast and lethal.

~ ~ ~

Sidious stood tall amongst the assembled member of the Senate. “The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed” he paused and his yellow eyes swept over the Senate.

“…but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger.” His voice rose towards the end as the Senators applauded.

Padme and Bail listened with baited breath for the applause to die down.

“The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning.” The Chancellors announcement was met with a deafening round of applause.

Leaning across ever so slightly, Padme whispered to Bail, “well, this is the moment we discover if he intends to return the Republic to a democracy.” Nodding Bail wordlessly agreed.

The Chancellor’s next words however, shocked them into silence. “In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society.”

Padme could not believe what she was hearing! Looking around, she shook her head in disbelief. “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause…”

~ ~ ~

Nute Gunray ran as far as he could before Vader appeared before him.

“The war is over. Lord Sidious promised us peace…” He pleaded, “we only want…”

Vader cut him off midsentence, his lightsaber inflicting the fatal blow.

~ ~ ~

Night had long since fallen on Coruscant as Obi-Wan worked to alter the false code that led many Jedi to their death.

“I’ve recalibrated the code warning all surviving Jedi to stay away.” Obi-Wan informed Yoda, who stood a short distance away.

“Good…For the Clones to discover the recalibration, a long time it will take.” Yoda responded in approval.

Nodding, Obi-Wan secured the computer he had been working on, before walking the short distance back to where Yoda stood waiting.

As they passed through the Temple’s Main Control Centre, however, Obi-Wan stopped. “Wait, Master. There is something I must know.” Breaking away from Yoda, he approached the security hologram area.

Yoda held up a warning hand, his voice sad. “If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find.”

Obi-Wan briefly considering the warning. Shaking his head, he reached for the control panel. “I must know the truth, Master. I owe Y/N that much.”

Yoda only shook his head and looked away. His eyes filled with grief.

Obi-Wan filtered through a series of holos before halting, a familiar figure catching his attention. He forgot how to breathe as he watched Anakin slaughter Jedi, even younglings without mercy. “No!” he whispered, this couldn’t be happening. “It can’t be..It can’t be…” he shook his head in vehement denial.

“Oh Y/N,” he whispered, “I’m so sorry.” Perhaps it was better that she hadn’t survived. Seeing what he had just seen would have surely killed her. He could not bare the thought of the pain that Anakin’s actions would have caused her.

“The traitors have been taken care of, Lord Sidious.” Anakin’s voice brought Obi-Wan crashing back to the present.

He watched, horrified as Anakin knelt before a hooded figure.

“Good…good…You have done well, my new apprentice.” Sidous spoke. “Do you feel your power growing?”

Anakin’s holo image nodded. “Yes, My Master.”

“Now, Lord Vader,” Sidous continued as Anakin stood. “Go and bring peace to the Empire.”

That was it for Obi-Wan. With a trembling hand, he deactivated the holos. “I can’t watch any more.” His eyes welled up with tears as he looked to the Grand Master. “Perhaps it is better that Y/N was killed on Kamino, for surely, watching this would have done the same.”

Yoda nodded wordlessly. He too knew of the bond Y/N and Anakin had shared and the concern she had often displayed when she perceived him to be in peril.

“Destroy the Sith, we must.” Yoda finally said, breaking the silence.

“Send me to kill the Emperor.” Obi-Wan all but begged, “I will not kill Anakin.” His voice trembled ever-so-slightly.

“To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough, you are not.”

Obi-Wan refused to accept this decision. “He is like my brother…” he paused, pleading with Yoda. “He was like _her_ brother….I cannot do it. Please,” he felt the tears well up again, he could not lose Anakin too. He would not. “Do not make me do this.”

“Twisted by the dark side, young Skywalker has become. The boy you trained, gone he is…Consumed by Darth Vader.” Yoda answered and began to leave.

“I do not know where the Emperor has sent him.” Obi-Wan hated how desperate he sounded. “I don’t know where to look.”

Yoda turned and shot him a knowing look. “Use your feelings, Obi-Wan, and find him, you will. Visit the new Emperor, my task is. May the Force be with you.”

Sighing heavily, Obi-Wan nodded. “May the Force be with you, Master Yoda.”

~ ~ ~

Y/N considered it a miracle that she had made it to the Capital, her exhausted body being forced into action.

She almost cried in relief when the city-planet came into view. “Almost there,” she murmured to herself and began to navigate her small craft through the strange haze that covered the Capital.

Squinting through the viewport, Y/N felt all the blood drain from her face as her e/c eyes locked onto the columns of smoke that rose from the Temple. Forcing her trembling hands to maintain a firm grip on the controls, she pushed the fighter’s speed to maximum.

Not thinking twice, Y/N all but leapt out of the fighter as soon as it touched the landing pad. Stumbling into the Temple, her mouth opened in a silent scream. Leaning against the columns for support, Y/N covered her mouth with a trembling hand, her e/c eyes sweeping over the sight before her.

Pushing off the column, she forced her exhausted legs to move. “Obi-Wan?” Her voice came out as a strangled whisper and her heart hammered in her chest. As she moved through the silent halls, her calls became more desperate. Her trembling voice echoed off the walls and columns.

_This isn’t rea_ l, she thought, _I must be dreaming._

The light of the moon shone into the Temple and cast her shadow across the countless bodies that lay still on the ground before her.

Tears ran like waterfall down her damp cheeks. Y/N saw no point in stopping them. “OBI-WAN.” She called and only a deafening silence answered her. She shook her head violently, “no. NO!” Her strangled scream echoed through the silent Temple.

Forcing herself to continue, Y/N finally came to the Control Centre. Her eyes swept over the partially destroyed security devices. _Who could do something like this?_ She thought to herself, _I have to find out._

Barely managing to reach one of the hologram devices, Y/N reached out with a severely trembling hand and flicked the switches that activated the security feed. Her desperate eyes and fingers filtered through the footage. “Come on, come on-” her impatient murmuring was interrupted as a familiar figure appeared.

“Annie?” She whispered, hoping it wasn’t him. “Annie, what are you doing?” Her mouth opened in a silent gasp of horror and she wanted to scream as she watched him massacre his fellow Jedi. Her legs gave way and she let them, not having the strength to stand as she continued to watch in horrified silence.

Watching him kneel and answer to the Sith was the last straw. Upon barely managing to turn off the security feed, a piercing pain shot through her and rendered her immobile. She became a statue as her world slowly came apart, falling to pieces and shattering while she was helpless to stop it.

That was how Yoda found her. Collapsed on the ground, her tear-filled eyes staring at nothing. While seeing her alive was a great relief, the look of grief and pain in her eyes and the defeated set of her shoulders made him recall Obi-Wan’s earlier statement. “Y/N?”

The sound of her name barely pulled her back to reality. Looking up at the speaker, she spoke in a voice so broken and so vulnerable that it almost brought the Grand Master to tears. “He promised me. He promised me he would go. He’s never broken a promise before.”

Yoda said nothing, feeling it best to let her talk uninterrupted.

“I failed him,” she continued in the same voice. “I should never have left. He needed me and I wasn’t there-” Y/N closed her eyes in a vain effort to stop the tears. “I should have made more of an effort to stay. He fell because I wasn’t there to catch him.” Y/N didn’t care who saw, the tears flowed and broken sobs accompanied them.

Yoda had seen her happy, he had seen her furious and annoyed, even worried. But never had he seen her look so vulnerable. It looked wrong on her, it didn’t fit. “Y/N.” He spoke softer that time.

“Master Yoda?” She asked, only seeming to notice him for the first time.

The old Jedi nodded and smiled sadly. “Warned me of your reaction, young Obi-Wan did.”

Y/N blinked at him. A small shimmer entered her eyes. “Obi-Wan? He’s alive?” She tried not to sound too hopeful.

Yoda nodded. “Yes.”

Never had Y/N loved that word more. “Where, where is he?” She pushed herself up and leaned against the wall.

Yoda did not answer right away. Her pleading eyes soon broke his silence. “Gone, he is. To seek out young Skywalker, tasked him with, I have.”

Y/N could from no coherent answer. After a few moments however, she ground out a few words. “He’s going after Anakin?” Yoda nodded in answer.

“Is he going to kill him?” Y/N dreaded the answer, but she had to know. She felt fresh tears sting her eyes as she received her answer.

“Become a great threat, he has.”

Y/N shook her head, refusing to believe that this was her new reality.

“Go to the Emperor, I must,” Yoda stated, breaking her thoughts.

“Take me with you,” her voice was strangely determined. “Take me with you Master. Please.”

“Strong enough, you are not, young Y/N.”

“I know that,” Y/N responded, taking a step forward. “But Anakin is my brother and it is my duty to fight for him. I cannot do nothing, Master.”

Yoda watched her closely before speaking again. “Survive you must, Y/N. Too strong, Sidious is.”

“Master please!” Y/N begged him. “He took my brother from me. I cannot run away. Annie needs me, now more than ever.”

“Hesitate to kill you, Sidious will not.”

Y/N nodded, “I know that, Master. Truly I do.” Pausing, she swallowed hard. “I also know that Obi-Wan will not forgive me if I die.” With tears shining in her eyes, she looked Yoda in the eye. “Master, I know that this Sith is stronger than me and he will most likely kill me. When this happens, tell Obi-Wan-” she broke off as the tears escaped her eyes. “Tell him that I’m sorry, sorry for not keeping my promise. And that I wish I could have seen him one last time, and most importantly, that I miss him and-”

Yoda lay a gentle hand on hers. He knew of what she spoke. He was not blind, he had seen it in _his_ eyes too.

“Come,” he finally said, “pay a visit to our new Emperor, we must.”


	11. Our new reality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And in that moment I swore that nothing in this universe could be so heavy as the absence of the person you love. ~ Beau Taplin // The Absence

It was late afternoon when a sleek Jedi starfighter docked at the veranda of Padme’s Senatorial residence. A hooded figure emerged and caused an alarm to sound somewhere inside the apartment.

“Hello, might I help you-” C-3PO began to say but cut himself off when he realised who it was. “Oh, it’s you, Master Kenobi. Come in, quickly.”

Lowering his hood, Obi-Wan spoke to the droid. “Has Anakin been here…?”

“Yes…” the droid answered hesitantly. “Right after the attack on the Jedi Temple.”

As Obi-Wan considered this, Padme came down the stairs, signalling C-3PO’s departure.

“Master Kenobi…” Padme addressed him as she embraced him. Her relief at seeing him alive was evident. “Oh, Obi-Wan, thank goodness…you’re alive.” Pulling away, she smiled up at him, a hopeful look in her eyes. “Where is Y/N? I thought she’d be back by now.”

Obi-Wan said nothing, at least, not at first. He stepped away from her and turned slightly to face the ever-constant air traffic. “The Republic has fallen. Padme…The Jedi Order is no more…Y/N is gone.”

“Gone?” Padme repeated, not believing what she was hearing. “How? Where?”

Obi-Wan hesitated before answering, his voice surprisingly steady. “Kamino fell and Y/N along with it.”

Padme took a shuddering breath. While she may not have known the young woman all that well, she knew what Y/N meant to her husband and to the man standing before her. When she spoke, her voice was quieter. “It’s hard to believe everything to which we’ve dedicated our lives is gone.”

“I believe we have been part of a plot hundreds of years in the making.” Obi-Wan stated.

“The Senate is still intact, there is some hope.” Padme looked up at him, the spark in her eyes was not quite gone.

Obi-Wan shook his head and moved a little closer to her. “No. Padme…It’s over…The Sith now rule the galaxy as they did before the Republic.”

“The Sith!?!” Padme exclaimed in shock.

“I’m here looking for Anakin,” Obi-Wan explained. “When was the last time you saw him?”

“Yesterday.”

“And do you know where he is now?“ Obi-Wan questioned, his tone hopeful.

Padme found herself unable to meet his gaze. “No.”

“Padme,” Obi-Wan persisted. “I need your help. He’s in grave danger.”

“From the Sith?” Her dark eyes met his, desperate for an answer.

“From himself…” Obi-Wan took a deep breath before saying the words he never thought he would. “Padme, Anakin has turned to the Dark Side.”

“You’re wrong!“ Padme backed away from him. “How could you even say that?”

Sighing heavily, Obi-Wan forced himself to recall the security footage. “I have seen a security hologram of him killing younglings.”

“Not Anakin!“ Padme denied, shaking her head. “He couldn’t!”

“He was deceived by a lie. We all were. It appears that the Chancellor is behind everything, including the war. Palpatine is the Sith Lord we’ve been looking for. After the death of Count Dooku, Anakin became his new apprentice.”

“I don’t believe you,” Padme managed to say and turned away from him. “I can’t!” Feeling her legs about to give way, she sat down on the nearby couch.

“Padme, I must find him.” Obi-Wan spoke softly, sitting down next to her.

“You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?” Padme asked, her eyes fearful of his answer.

“He has become a very great threat.” Obi-Wan replied, sounding as though he was trying to convince himself more than her.

Looking down, Padme unconsciously rested her hands on her swollen belly. “I can’t…” came her despairing whisper.

Standing up, Obi-Wan turned to leave. “Anakin is the father isn’t he?” His eyes had caught her earlier movement.

Padme said nothing, nor did she meet his gaze.

“I’m so sorry,” Obi-Wan murmured before heading to where his fighter was docked.

“ _She_ wouldn’t want you to do this.” Padme’s soft voice stopped him. “She would want you to fight for him. Not against him.”

Those words reminded him of the promise he had made Y/N. The night she had come to him, having heard the unimaginable. He had promised her that they would never side against Anakin. He remembered the way she had looked at him, her e/c eyes shone with tears but also with the thinnest sliver of hope.

“I said those exact words to her,” he murmured, loud enough for Padme to hear him. “I even promised her.”

“Then keep that promise,” Padme begged, standing up and going to him. “Please, if not for Anakin, then for her.”

When Obi-Wan’s eyes met hers, she was surprised at the unshed tears she saw there. “She tried to help him, did you know that?”

Padme shook her head, “no.”

“She knew what was going to happen to him,” Obi-Wan continued, turning away from the Nubian Senator. “She begged him to take you and leave the Capital.”

“She what?” Padme was shell-shocked, Anakin had said nothing of this to her.

“He promised her, just before he went to the Chancellor, he promised her.” Obi-Wan looked down and forced himself to remain calm. “She left the Capital believing he was safe. Believing that he had heeded her warning.” Looking up at the curtains that blew in the soft breeze, Obi-Wan sighed. “It is better that she died on Kamino.”

“What do you mean by that?” Padme was confused.

Obi-Wan finally turned back to face her. His eyes held a grief that Padme wished never to become acquainted with. “Anakin’s actions would have broken her. She could handle many things, but that would have crushed even her.”

Padme said nothing as she watched him leave a second time. Or she would have, had she not spoken. “You loved her, didn’t you?” It was no accusation.

Obi-Wan let out a shuddering breath. For so long now he had managed to keep his feelings and emotions under strict control. Her death had threatened to shatter that control. “I always will.” His voice was barely a whisper but Padme heard it just the same.

Padme silently let him leave. A tear escaped one eye as she watched his fighter leave. She refused to believe that this was her new reality.

~ ~ ~

Mustafar’s sun struggled to shine through the perpetual clouds of smoke and ash.

Standing on the balcony of the Main Control Centre, Vader stared out at the hellish landscape. His mind flashed back to the carnage in the rooms behind him. He had betrayed the ones he loved for the power to save the one he loved most.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Vader felt a single tear trace a line down his cheek.

~ ~ ~

“My Lady, let me come with you.” Captain Typho insisted as Padme headed towards her waiting ship.

“There is no danger. The fighting is over, and…this is personal.” Padme continued towards the lowered ramp of her Nubian skiff.

Captain Typho sighed and bowed, “as you wish, My Lady…But I strongly disagree.”

“I’ll be all right, Captain.” She assured him, sending him a small smile. “This is something I must do myself. Besides, Threepio will look after me.”

The Captain nodded wordlessly before heading back the transport.

Not waiting until her security Captain had left, Padme boarded the ship, C-3PO following close behind.

As the boarding ramp began to close, a figure emerged from the shadows and quickly jumped on the fast retracting ramp.

~ ~ ~

“The Separatists are taken care of, My Master.” Vader’s to the hologram of Sidious.

The Sith lord smiled coldly. “It is finished, then. You have restored peace and justice to the galaxy. You have done well, Lord Vader.”

“Thank you, My Master.” Vader bowed.

“ Send a message to the ships of the Trade Federation.” The Emperor continued. “Tell them the Separatist leaders have been wiped out. Grievous and Dooku have been destroyed. All droid units must shut down immediately.”

Vader nodded. “Very good, My Lord.”

~ ~ ~

Padme had very little knowledge of the Mustafar system. Now as the planet loomed before her, she took a shuddering breath and prayed that what Obi-Wan had said about Anakin was wrong.

Navigating through the planet’s smoke and ash-filled atmosphere, Padme soon located a landing platform by the planet’s Main Control Centre. Upon touching down, she let her head fall into her hands. _How did this all happen so fast,_ she asked herself. Lifting her head, her eyes locked onto a hooded figure not far from where she had landed.

Lowering the boarding ramp, Padme did not hesitate to run straight to him.

Vader, having been alerted to the arrival of a ship, had headed outside and narrowed his eyes when he saw who the ship belonged to.

Lowering his hood, he did not hesitate to run to her and take her in his arms. “Padme, I saw your ship..”

“Oh, Anakin!” She exclaimed, relief evident in her tone.

“It’s all right, you’re safe now,” he smiled down at her. “What are you doing out here?”

Padme stepped back to get a better look at him. “I was so worried about you. Obi-Wan told me terrible things.”

Clenching his jaw, Vader forced himself to remain calm. “What things?”

“He said you have turned to the Dark Side,” the scared tone was back and her dark eyes shone with tears. “…that you killed younglings.”

Vader took a deep breath and spoke as calmly as he could manage. “Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me.”

“He cares about us.”

“Us?!” There was an edge to his tone and he took a step backwards.

Padme reached for him, her voice soft.”He knows…He wants to help you. Like Y/N tried to do.”

At the mention of that name, Vader’s gaze sharpened. “Y/N,” he murmured, out of everyone, she was the one that always supported him and been his shoulder to lean on.

“Yes,” Padme smiled sadly, “but she’s gone now.”

“Gone?”

Padme nodded, “she was killed while on a mission to Kamino.”

Despite everything, Vader had never imagined it would come to this. While his sole focus had been on saving the woman he loved, he never thought he would lose the one he loved as a sister.

“Anakin,” Padme’s soft voice broke through his thoughts. “All I want is your love.”

“Love won’t save you Padme,” Vader tried to reason with her. “ Only my new powers can do that.”

“At what cost?“ She protested, “You are a good person. Don’t do this.” Her dark eyes pleaded with him.

“I won’t lose you the way I lost my mother!“ He stated confidently. “I’ve become more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of and I’ve done it for you. To protect you.”

“Come away with me,” Padme reached up and gently cupped his face. “Keep your promise to Y/N, help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can.”

Vader shook his head and smiled. “Don’t you see, we don’t have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the Republic. I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him, and together you and I can rule the galaxy. Make things the way we want them to be.”

The more he spoke, the more Padme backed away from him. Disbelief written on her beautiful features. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing!” Shaking her head, Padme felt the sting of tears. “Obi-Wan was right. You’ve changed.”

That was it for him. “I don’t want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned against me. Don’t you turn against me.” His voice rose with the anger he was beginning to feel.

“I don’t know you anymore.” Padme wept, “Anakin, you’re breaking my heart. I’ll never stop loving you, but you are going down a path I can’t follow.” Her breath came in short gasps.

“Because of Obi-Wan?”

Padme looked at him shock, “because of what you’ve done…what you plan to do. Stop, stop now. Come back!” She pleaded desperately, “I love you.”

Vader’s eyes widened in fury as he saw a figure on the boarding ramp of Padme’s ship. “LIAR!”

Padme’s eyes flew in the direction he was looking, “No,” she gasped as she too saw Obi-Wan.

Vader was fuming. “You’re with him. You’ve betrayed me! You brought him here to kill me!”

Padme reached for her throat as all of a sudden she found it difficult to breathe. “Anakin…I swear..” She gasped as she found it increasingly difficult to get air.

“Let her go, Anakin.” Obi-Wan instructed from the ship’s ramp.

“What have you and she been up to?” Vader demanded as he tightened the Force choke he was inflicting on Padme.

“Let her go!” Obi-Wan repeated and made his way down the ramp.

After a few moments, Vader released his grip on her. “You turned her against me.” His eyes never left her. Even when she crumbled to the ground.

“You have done that yourself.” Obi-Wan stated reluctantly.

Vader was furious. Throwing off his cloak, he began to prowl like a wild animal. “You will not take her from me!”

Obi-Wan shrugged off his robe, letting it fall to the ground. “Your anger and your lust for power have already done that.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “In breaking your promise to Y/N, you have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind until now … until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy.”

“Do not speak of her,” Vader hissed, “Y/N is dead. Drowned in the waters of Kamino.”

“She was like your sister! She tried to help you,” Obi-Wan reminded him. “She knew what was coming and tried to stop all of this!” His eyes swept over their surroundings. “Why didn’t you listen to her?”

Vader said nothing. At least, not right away. “Don’t lecture me, Obi-Wan.”

Before Obi-Wan could say anything, Vader continued. “I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, justice, freedom, and security to my new Empire.”

“Your new Empire?”

“Don’t make me kill you.” Vader warned him, his control was slipping fast.

Obi-Wan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic…to democracy.”

“And to _her_ ,” Vader added and they both knew he did not mean Padme. “If you’re not with me, you’re my enemy.”

Obi-Wan never thought he’d hear Anakin say those words. “Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes.” He drew his lightsaber. “I will do what I must.” The words were followed by igniting hiss.

Vader smiled nastily and ignited his own weapon. “You will try.” With those words, he somersaulted into the air and upon landing, lashed out at Obi-Wan.

~ ~ ~

Together, Yoda and Y/N entered the Chancellor’s office. Any opposition they face were thrown to the wall, unconscious.

“I hear a new apprentice, you have. Emperor, or should I call you Darth Sidious.” Yoda spoke first, drawing the Sith lord’s attention to them.

“Master Yoda,” Sidious replied, standing up and approaching them. “You survived.”

Yoda smirked, “surprised ?”

“He wasn’t the only one,” Y/N added, stepping forward.

“Ah, young Y/L/N,” Sidious purred. “Changed your mind have you?”

Y/N curled her lip in disgust. “I’ll never join you. Anakin may have fallen for your false promises, but I never will.”

“Such spirit,” the Emperor murmured. “Such loyalty to the one who betrayed you.”

“You took my brother from me,” Y/N snarled, “I’m here to take him back.”

“How sweet and naive of you.”

“I don’t think so,” Y/N smiled, but the usual warmth was gone. “When you’re gone, he will come back.”

“The arrogance of the Jedi never ceases to amaze me,” Sidious hissed at her. “Now you will experience the full power of the Dark Side.”

Blinding agony erupted through her entire being. Y/N was only vaguely aware of being thrown against the wall and of Sidious towering over her. “Your brother is gone. He is mine now.”

White pain exploded behind her eyes and the last thing she remembered was screaming for the pain to stop.


	12. Shattered dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am lost without you’. What a hauntingly beautiful thing to say to a person - that whether you are off on another wild adventure or in the familiar quiet comfort of your very own home, you are all the same, enormously lost, whenever you are without them. ~ Beau Taplin // I am Lost Without You

The fight was savage, yet it was the culmination of everything both of them had been taught. Vader struck and swung his weapon with frightening skill and ferocity. His attacks were fluid, yet aggressive.

Obi-Wan soon found himself on the defensive. Never would he have imagined to find himself in this situation. Fighting the one he loved as dearly as a brother. As the fight grew in intensity, sparks flew around them, signalling the damage they were causing to their surroundings.

_“Anakin is our brother.”_ His own words echoed around him as the fight escalated.

_“We love him and we will fight for him.”_

Their surroundings changed and took the shape of the Control Centre. Vader’s attacks were becoming more and more aggressive, his anger directing where he struck.

“ _But never against him.”_

Now more than before, Obi-Wan was glad that Y/N had not survived to see this. To see him break a promise. To see Anakin as someone even she would not recognise.

~ ~ ~ 

No sooner had Y/N crumbled to the ground, unconscious from the pain, than Yoda had moved to stand in front of her.

“I have waited a long time for this moment, my little green friend.” The Emperor sneered, his yellow eyes glancing briefly at the young woman. “At last, the Jedi are no more.”

Before Sidious could take one more step, Yoda raised one clawed hand. “Not if anything to say about it, I have.” Calling on the Force, he threw the Dark Lord back the way he had come, with such a force that he tumbled completely over his desk and landed with a thud.

“At an end your rule is,” Yoda continued, taking on a defensive stance, “and not short enough it was, I must say.”

Brushing himself off, Sidious stood and faced the Grand Master for a brief moment before making for the office entrance. He would have left, had Yoda not quickly intercepted him. “If so powerful you are, why leave??” His words were followed by the igniting hiss of a lightsaber.

“You will not stop me. Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us.” Sidous responded, activating his own blood red blade.

“Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced may be, as is your faith in the dark side of the Force.”

The fight that ensued was faster and more ferocious than the human mind could possibly imagine. They became a blur of green and red. Each using the confined space of the office to their advantage.

~ ~ ~

The view screens exploded and shattered around them. Vader and Obi-Wan worked their way steadily through the main room of the Control Centre, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.

As yet still finding himself on the defensive, Obi-Wan took the first opportunity and leaped onto one of the three table-top view screens. His lightsaber remained directed at Anakin.

“Don’t make me destroy you, Master. You’re no match for the Dark Side.” Vader prowled around the edge of the table like a caged animal.

“I’ve heard that before, Anakin,” Obi-Wan responded and took a deep breath. “…but I never thought I’d hear it from you.”

Clearly impatient, Vader struck and forced his opponent backwards and into the Conference room. Suddenly they did not have as much space as they previously had.

Jumping onto the long table, Vader made to strike when Obi-Wan slid across the table, knocking him over. Reaching out, Obi-Wan caught the fallen lightsaber and called on the Force to retrieve his own fallen one. But it seemed as though Vader had the same idea.

~ ~ ~

Yoda showed no signs of slowing down or tiring, if anything, he was growing stronger and his attacks were quicker.

Seeing no other option, Sidious thought to find some measure of refuge in the Chancellor’s Senatorial pod. The relief he felt was short lived.

Yoda’s green eyes caught onto the rising podium and called on the Force to propel him onto it.

The ferocity of the fight only heightened. The confined space of the podium only escalated the determination of both parties to end the other.

~ ~ ~ 

Having fought their way back into the main Control centre, Vader and Obi-Wan’s duel only intensified. Vader began to rely heavily on the Dark Side as his opponent proved to be every inch as skilled as he.

“The flaw of power is arrogance.“ Obi-Wan continued, as though his speech from earlier hadn’t been interrupted.

“You hesitate,” Vader sneered and curled his lip, “…the flaw of compassion.”

“Perhaps,” Obi-Wan conceded, “but it is compassion for the man you once were and for the man you could have been. And for the life _she_ had wished for you.”

Incensed, Vader lashed out. “She wanted me to run.” His lightsaber clashed with Obi-Wan’s. “She wanted me to run…like a coward.”

Clenching his jaw in an effort to hold out Anakin’s increasing strength, Obi-Wan ground out, “she wanted to save you. Like she always did.”

Their lightsabers crackled against eachother until their owners pulled away and called on the Force to try and push the other away. The sheer strength of both parties soon had them repelled away from each other and flung to opposite ends of the room.

More determined than before, Vader sprang up and leapt across the large span of the room and struck at Obi-Wan, who managed to dodge the attack just in time. Vader’s weapon came crashing down on the control panels, thus deactivating the deflector shields of the metal machinery that hung just above rivers of molten rock.

The fight continued to take them across the room, until a door on near both of them was knocked open when Vader landed a sound kick, knocking Obi-Wan onto the now visible balcony.

~ ~ ~

_'I am never complaining about a headache again'_ , Y/N groaned inwardly as she began to regain mobility. Cracking her eyes open, she took in her surroundings. She appeared to be alone. At least, that was what she thought until the tell-tale sounds of a fight reached her faintly-ringing ears.

Instinctively reaching for her lightsaber, Y/N’s eyes swept over the empty office before they were drawn to the pillar in the centre of the room. Pushing herself into a standing position, she approached the pillar and craned her neck. What she saw should have surprised her.

Master Yoda and Darth Sidious were locked in a fight that looked more ferocious than any Y/N had ever seen.

“Destroy you I will,” came Yoda’s voice. “Just as Master Kenobi, your apprentice will destroy.”

That did it for her. Not waiting to hear the Sith’s reply, she abandoned all reason and called on the Force to help her ascend the pillar. She pulled herself onto the podium just in time to see Yoda jump to one of the lower Senatorial pods.

Y/N’s e/c eyes widen in horror as Sidious used the Force to loosen one of the pod’s moorings. “Oh no, you don’t,” she murmured and lashed out with her sword arm, using the Force to send the Emperor sprawling backwards.

“Young Y/N,” Sidious smiled coldly at the young woman. “One would have thought you would have learned your lesson.”

“I’ve been known to be a bit thick sometimes,” she shot back.

The Emperor simply nodded before sending a bolt of Sith lightning her way.

Igniting her lightsaber, Y/N barely manage to deflect the damaging energy. “But considering the circumstances, I’d say I’ve learned it pretty well.” Her hands began to tremble with the effort of maintaining a firm grip.

“Tell me,” the Emperor continued, the bolts flowing seemingly endlessly from his outstretched hands. “Do you still believe you can take what is mine?”

Y/n ground her teeth and clenched her jaw. “What makes you think I’ll stop?”

“He betrayed you,” Sidious taunted. “He broke the promise he made you.”

Y/N shook her head and fought the tears that were threatening to spill over. “He betrayed me because _you_ poisoned him.” She forced herself to look at him and strengthened her grip and continued to push against the lightning. “He betrayed me because of _your_ promise of the impossible.” A breath shuddered through her. “He broke his promise to me-” Y/N silently cursed herself for her trembling voice. Her lip curled and she snarled at him, “ _you_ broke his promise to me.” With those words, she gave one last push before leaping onto the same pod on which the Emperor stood.

Yoda watched her from his position below them. Many times had he witnessed Y/N in combat, he had often considered her a controlled and elegant fighter. Transforming something deadly into something beautiful was what he had come to expect off her. She made every duel look like a dangerous dance.

Now, the control was gone, her ravaged emotions seemed to be in the lead. Her attacks, while fluid, were evidently fueled by anger and the strong desire to protect those she loved. Yoda’s green eyes followed her as she dodged the Sith Lord’s strikes and the pods he had begun to throw in her direction.

Everytime she managed to dodge one of those things, Y/N considered it a miracle. She didn’t even want to think of what would happen should she be unlucky enough to be hit.

Leaping from pod to pod, Y/N found that her thoughts had changed direction.

_“Farewell then, big sister.”_ Y/N gasped and almost lost her footing. Why did she have to remember that _now_?!

_“I haven’t seen you smile like that for quite some time,” His_ voice quickly replaced Anakin’s.

“Easily distracted I see,” Sidious spoke from beside her.

Jolting in shock, Y/N’s foot slipped and she felt herself fall until her left hand caught the pod’s rail. Her lightsaber clattering to the ground far below. As her feet dangled free, Y/N tried to calm herself and refused to look down.

“I cannot imagine Master Kenobi fairing any better,” Sidious taunted from above her. “Vader, however..”

“Leave Obi-Wan out of this,” Y/N hissed, trying to reach the rail with her right hand.

The Emperor laughed, it was an unpleasant sound. “I cannot do that. Your precious Obi-Wan will soon meet his end at the hands of the one you loved as a brother.”

Anakin wouldn’t dare! Y/N was almost certain that Anakin wasn’t physically capable of that. Her already frantic heart-rate increased as she fought the fresh tears. ' _This couldn’t be happening',_ she thought, ' _this can’t be how it ends. Obi-Wan-'_

Her thoughts were cut off as the sensation of falling was accompanied by a pain of such an intensity as she had never felt before.

Yoda watched in horror as Y/N was struck a second time. Hanging helpless, she had been the perfect target for the hateful Sith Lord. Leaping down, Yoda called on the Force to cushion her fall. She was unconscious by the time she reached him, the right side of her face horribly disfigured by the lightning.

~ ~ ~

If anything, Vader’s attacks became more aggressive as he forced Obi-Wan along a narrow balcony.

Once again finding himself on the defensive, Obi-Wan soon found himself trapped at the end of the balcony. His eyes took note of his surroundings and landed reluctantly on the lava river just beneath them.

Not wasting anytime, he leapt from the balcony onto a small pipe that connected the Control Centre to planet’s Main Collection Plant.

Vader followed suit and soon both were balancing on the narrow metal, their lightsabers still directed at each other.

While still ferocious, the fight slowed down, both opponents overly aware of their dangerous surroundings.

Then, suddenly, Obi-Wan jumped down and landed on the walkway of the collection plant. It did not take long for Vader to follow.

The intensity of the fight picked up as soon as both had found secure footing. Lava sprayed up around them, threatening to fall on them.

The further they advanced, the further the safety of the control centre slipped away. The fight carried them far enough along one of the arms for them to be completely above the river of lava that flowed and bubbled beneath them.

~ ~ ~

Using the Force to pull Y/N along, Yoda gently moved her through a small chute, while struggling not to get either of them entangled in the numerous wires.

“Hurry,” Yoda spoke into his comlink. “Careful timing we will need.”

Bail’s voice soon answered him. “Activate your homing beacon when you’re ready.”

~ ~ ~

“There are no signs of their bodies, Sir,” Clone Commander Thire reported to Sidious who hovered just above him in a Senatorial pod.

“Then they are not dead,” Mas Amedda spoke up from beside the Emperor.

“Double your search.” Sidious instructed, he was fuming. How was this possible? Turning to his aide, he spoke, “tell Captain Kagi to prepare my shuttle for immediate takeoff.”

Docking the pod, the Emperor walked into the hallway beyond. “I sense Lord Vader is in danger.”

~ ~ ~

It was only when a particularly large spout of molten rock erupted that both Obi-Wan and Vader ran. Soon, the hot lava melted the metal on which it had landed and the arm began to fall.

Quite literally running on instinct, both Jedi and Sith ran from where they had taken shelter. As the structure descended towards the river of molten rock, they leaped onto what used to be the walkway.

Both climbed in a desperate attempt to get away from the furious river of lava that was steadily melting the metal arm.

As they climbed they fought. Obi-Wan had managed to climb above Vader and soon became trapped at the top. Looking around, his sea-shaded eyes soon located the edge of the river that ended in cascades of lava. Grabbing hold of one of the numerous loose cables, he continued to defend himself against the vengeful Sith.

~ ~ ~ 

Following Yoda’s beacon, Bail directed his open-cockpitted speeder towards the eaves of the large Senate Building, towards a recess of lights.

The Senator was surprised when a young woman came through and landed softly on the seat beside him. Yoda followed her soon after.

“Fought Sidious, she did,” Yoda explained. “Survive, she might.”

Only then did Bail take proper notice of her. She seemed strangely familiar. His eyes widened ever-so-slightly as he took in her injuries. “Who is she?”

“Y/N Y/L/N.”

That name did ring a bell for the Senator. He turned to Yoda, “she may yet live, but we must hurry.”

Yoda simply nodded and did not answer right away. When he did, his voice was softer, sadder. “Into exile I must go. Failed, I have.”

~ ~ ~

Vader was relentless, even when Obi-Wan swung out and away from the arm, did he lash out. When his opponent did not return, Vader looked around and saw him land on a small platform in the middle of the molten river.

Obi-Wan watched from where he stood as the remains of the metal arm slowly tipped over the edge and a figure ran and leapt in a graceful somersault, landing neatly on a small worker droid.

Taking advantage of the distance, Obi-Wan began to head for the shore. Vader however, had different plans. The droid on which he stood was faster, allowing him to catch up to and intercept Obi-Wan.

The fight continued, even faster and more ferocious than before.

“I have failed you, Anakin. I was never able to teach you to think.” Obi-Wan managed to say in the brief moment of ‘peace’. His eyes focused on his former Padawan, who now looked at him with thinly veiled loathing.

“I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over-” Vader called over the roar of the lava falls.

“From the Sith!” Obi-Wan interrupted him. “Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil.”

“From the Jedi point of view!” Vader protested angrily. “From my point of view, the Jedi are evil.”

“Well, then you are lost!”

“This is the end for you, My Master.” Vader spoke as his droid neared Obi-Wan’s platform. “I wish it were otherwise. Give my regards to Y/N.” With those words, he jumped and flipped neatly over Obi-Wan and landed on the edge of the platform.

The duel continued until Obi-Wan caught sight of how near the shore was. Not wasting the opportunity, he leaped and landed smoothly on the black sand.

“It’s over, Anakin.” He called, “I have the high ground.”

But Vader was not one to give up so easily. Nearing the shore, he glared up at his former Master. “You underestimate my power!”

“Don’t try it!” Obi-Wan pleaded and sensed what Vader was about to do.

Squaring his shoulders, Vader jumped and Obi-Wan struck. In the blink of an eye, he had cut both legs at the knees as well as Vader’s left hand.

As a result, Vader tumbled down the slope and stopped just short of the river. With his remaining mechanical hand, he began to pull himself up.

Obi-Wan watched with tears escaping his eyes. “You were the Chosen One!” He cried, heartbroken. “It was said that you would, destroy the Sith, not join them. It was you who would bring balance to the Force, not leave it in Darkness.”

In that moment, he swore he saw the Anakin that Y/N and he had always loved. The one they both saw as a brother. The one they would have given anything to protect.

Bending down, he picked up Anakin’s fallen lightsaber and made to leave.

“I HATE YOU.” Nothing of Anakin remained in that voice. In those words.

“You were our brother Anakin,” he reminded the fallen Jedi. “We loved you. But no one more than Y/N.”

A brief moment passed before Vader’s clothing burst into flames and began to engulf him as well.

Obi-Wan could do nothing but watch in frozen horror. Only when Vader desperately tried crawl up the embankment did he finally turn away. His screams shattering the air.

The screams echoed after him even when he returned to where Padme’s ship stood waiting. 

Immediately boarding, he saw Padme lying unconscious on one of the ship’s beds. He went to her and gently lay a hand on her shoulder, waking her.

Padme blinked up at him. “Obi-Wan? Is Anakin all right?”

Not trusting himself, Obi-Wan chose not to answer, sending her a sad smile before she slipped back into unconsciousness.

As the Nubian skiff leaves the fiery planet behind, Obi-Wan sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. Shaking his head, he dropped it into his waiting hands. His world had long since fallen to pieces, it was only now that he truly realised it.


	13. The rise of the Empire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There’s something in your sweet definite gaze that settles my heart and floods life through my veins. Those bright, round eyes are the envy of even the stars. And when they have grown wise and worn, and wrinkle at their corners, they will enchant me just the same. ~ Beau Taplin // Bright Eyes

A shuttle landed a short distance from where Vader lay, his body smoking from the dying flames.

The hooded figure of Darth Sidious, followed by clone troopers, made his way down to where his apprentice struggled against the burning sand.

“Anakin! Anakin! There he is.” He pointed the figure out to the troopers. “He’s still alive. Get a medical capsule, immediately.”

“Yes sir. Right away.” The clones saluted before rushing off.

~ ~ ~

She was unconscious when they removed the damaged limp. The metal and wiring had been burnt and distorted when Sidious’s lightning had engulfed her.

In an effort to minimise the scarring and the effects of the burns, the medical droids had placed Y/N in a tank of bacta solution.

Bail had overseen the process and silently prayed that the young woman would survive. His thoughts were interrupted when his comlink sounded.

~ ~ ~

Having navigated his way through the asteroid field surrounding the isolated outpost of Polis Massa, Obi-Wan landed the Nubian craft on a prepared landing pad.

Wasting no time, he gathered the still-unconscious Padme into his arms before descending the lowered ramp.

Senator Organa, as well as Master Yoda stood waiting for them.

“We’ll take her to the medical center,” Bail instructed, having quickly assessed the situation. “Quickly.”

As the Polis medics worked on Padme, the two Jedi and the Senator watched from outside the operating theatre. It had been a good few hours since she had been brought in.

Finally, a medical droid exited the theatre and approached the assembled group. “Medically, she is completely healthy. For reasons we can’t explain, we are losing her.”

Obi-Wan blinked and stared at the droid. “She’s dying?”

“We don’t know why.“ The medic continued. “She has lost the will to live. We need to operate quickly if we are to save the babies.”

“Babies?” Bail repeated, not sure if he had heard correctly.

“She’s carrying twins.” The droid explained.

“Save them, we must. They are our last hope.” Yoda spoke up from beside Obi-Wan.

Taking this as a confirmation, the droid turned and rushed back into the operating room.

~ ~ ~

At that very moment, the severely injured Vader was being transported from the shuttle that had carried him to the Capital.

Sidious followed close behind.

Entering the Imperial Rehabilitation Centre, Vader was taken from the medical capsule and laid on an operating table. Almost immediately, medical droids began to work on saving what was left of him.

Vader writhed in agony and indescribable pain as the droids worked to give him new arms and legs.

~ ~ ~

“Don’t give up, Padme.” Obi-Wan encouraged her softly, a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Padme cried out as the pains of labour set in. Tears made their way down her damp cheeks. Her cries soon softened to faint whimpers.

“It’s a boy.” The medical droid informed her, holding a newborn baby in its arms.

Obi-Wan took the child and held him near his mother.

Padme managed a weak smile as she looked at her son. “Luke,” she murmured and gently touched the baby’s cheek. Her hand dropped as another cry escaped her.

Mere moments later, the medical droid held another child. “…and a girl.”

Obi-Wan, still holding the boy, smiled gently down at the young mother.

“Leia,” Padme whispered. Her voice was already so much weaker.

Obi-Wan noticed this. Leaning down, he spoke to her. “You have twins, Padme They need you…hang on.”

Padme weakly shook her head, “I can’t.” With a trembling hand, she reached out and took Obi-Wan’s hand and pressed Anakin’s japor snippet pendant into it. “Obi-Wan…there…is good in him. I know there is…still…” One more gasp for breath escaped her before her body went limp.

Holding both the pendent and the child, Obi-Wan glanced at the woman before him and then up at small group outside.

Bail took a shuddering breath as he met Obi-Wan’s gaze. Padme was gone, but her children were alive.

“Excuse me Senator,” a medical droid approached him.

“Yes,” Bail turned to it. “What is it?”

“We are ready to operate Sir, the bacta has done as much as it is able to. She will have scarring.”

The Senator nodded, “very well. Do what you can, we cannot lose anyone else.”

The droid turned and left the Senator with the Grand Master.

“Do you think she will make it, Master Yoda?”

The Jedi looked up at him. “A fighter, she is. Go to her, I will.”

~ ~ ~

Y/N did not recognise her surroundings. Blinding white light shone directly in her eyes.

A slight throbbing seemed to emanate from the right side of her face. Lifting a hand, she reached up and touched her face. The skin felt raw and a blinding pain followed her touch. Immediately retracting her hand, Y/N twisted her head to gain a better view of where she was.

It was a medical centre of some kind. All around her, medical droids were preparing for some kind of procedure. Her eyes hurt and she had to blink often.

The pain on her face was not the only sensation that she felt. She felt as though she was missing something. Twisting her head, she noticed, with horror, that the mechanical prosthetic of her right leg had been removed.

“Please, stay still, if you can,” a medical droid spoke from the other side of the room. “We will begin soon.”

“Begin?” Y/N asked, her voice hoarse. “Begin with what?”

She received no verbal answer. Instead, she felt a needle being inserted into her left arm and any feeling below her waist soon faded.

~ ~ ~

Obi-Wan had noticed Yoda’s departure. Placing the twins in the care of the medical droids, he left the operating room.

“Senator,” he addressed Bail. “Master Yoda, do you know where he went?”

Bail said nothing, he simply motioned for Obi-Wan to follow him.

Curious as to why Yoda had left and why the Senator was acting this way, Obi-Wan silently followed him until they came to another operating theatre. Identical to the one he had just left.

Yoda stood before the glass and only looked up when he heard approaching footsteps. Nodding in acknowledgement of their presence, he turned back to the scene in front of him.

Obi-Wan followed his gaze and inhaled sharply. Like Padme, the figure on the table was dressed in a white gown, her H/C hair was loose and fanned out around her head.

Droids worked around her, inserting wires and metal frameworks where her right leg should have been. “Y/N,” he breathed. She was alive and only a few feet away from him.

As though she heard him, she twisted her head and looked towards the small group that stood watching.

Obi-Wan covered his mouth in horror as he saw the true extent of her injuries. The right side of her face was red, raw and bleeding and even from where he stood, he could see the blisters.

“What happened to her?” His voice came out strangled, his eyes never leaving her.

“Fought Sidious, she did,” Yoda spoke without hesitation.

Obi-Wan wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “She what?”

“Fought for Anakin, she did.”

“She fought for Anakin?” Obi-Wan repeated in shock. “You let her fight the Emperor?”

“A strong fighter she is, Obi-Wan,” Yoda stated simply.

‘Yes,” Obi-Wan agreed and smiled sadly. “That she is.”

From inside the room, Y/N’s e/c eyes had locked onto him. Extending a trembling hand, she reached for him. “Obi-Wan,” her hoarse voice called to him.

“Go to her,” Yoda nodded to Obi-Wan. “Needs you, she does.”

Without hesitation, Obi-Wan entered the operating room and took her outstretched hand in his. “Y/N…”

She smiled up at him, despite her injuries. “I came back…see.”

Nodding, Obi-Wan fought the tears that threatened to fall. “Yes, you did.” He smiled down at her and pressed a gentle kiss to the inside of her trembling hand. “I thought I’d lost you. I thought you dead.” The tears he had been holding back broke free.

“I’m here..” she whispered, her own eyes were liquid with unshed tears. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“You fought the Emperor.”

Y/N nodded and smiled sadly. “And look where that got me.” Pausing, she took a breath before continuing. “Where is Anakin? Please tell me he is alright.”

Obi-Wan could not meet her eyes.

“Where is he, Obi-Wan?” Her choked voice became desperate and her grip on his hand tightened. “Where is Annie?”

“He-,” Obi-Wan forced himself to look her in the eye. “He’s gone Y/N. The Anakin we knew is gone.”

“No,” she shook her head as more tears came. “No. Tell me it isn’t true. Tell me you’re bluffing.”

Obi-Wan wordlessly shook his head.

She didn’t scream. Nor did she cry out. But tears did fall. The pain she had felt in the Temple, came crashing back.

Obi-Wan stayed with her as the droids finished giving her a new leg.

Y/N hissed in pain when they started to treat her face. Small whimpers escaped from between her tightly clenched jaw.

Obi-Wan could do nothing but watch. As the minutes passed, Y/N’s grip on his hand tightened into a death grip, the pain evidently getting worse.

 _“You loved her didn’t you.”_ Padme’s soft voice echoed around him as he kept his eyes trained on the woman before him.

 _“Is she your weakness as much as you are hers?”_ Dooku’s words floated through his memory.

“Obi-Wan?” Y/N’s strangled voice broke through his thoughts and drew his attention to her.

“Yes?”

“I want to tell you something-” her words were cut off as she suddenly gasped for breath.

“Y/N?” Obi-Wan’s eyes widened and he pulled her in close, “Y/N, whats wrong? What’s happening?’

“I don’t know…but you…have to know-”

“No,” the Jedi shook his head. “I lost you once. I will not lose you again.”

Y/N coughed violently and gasped in the aftermath. “I’m sorry…”

“NO,” Obi-Wan repeated, his control over his emotions was dangerously close to slipping. “You are a fighter Y/N. You fought for Anakin, now fight for yourself….fight for me.”

“There is…something…you need to know.”

“Stay with me Y/N,” he pleaded and looked around at the droids. “Can’t you help her?!”

In answer, a hive of activity buzzed around them. Amongst the sudden activity, a medical droid gently took hold of Y/N’s trembling form. “Let us help her.”

Reluctantly letting go, Obi-Wan nodded and retreated to where Yoda and Bail watched silently.

“You know her?”

Obi-Wan nodded and turned slightly face the Senator. “She is my best friend,” he turned back to where numerous medics buzzed around her. “That will never change.”

“It’s clear your feelings for her have,” the Senator murmured behind him. Obi-Wan did not deny it.

~ ~ ~

After hours of excrutiating pain, it finally stopped. The droids surrounding him stopped working and stepped back.

One droid approached the Emperor. “My Lord, the construction is finished…he lives.”

Sidious nodded and smiled to himself. “Good. Good.”

The medical droid moved back until he stood beside the table on which Vader lay.

“Lord Vader, can you hear me?” Sidious asked his apprentice.

“Yes. My Master,” the words came from beneath the black helmet and mask he now wore. Looking away from his Master, Vader seemed to be looking for someone. “Where is Padme? Is she safe, is she all right?”

Sidious did not answer right away. He moved a little closer to the part droid/part man. “I’m afraid she died…it seems in your anger, you killed her.”

Vader shook his head and fought against the restraints that held him to the table. “I couldn’t have! She was alive! I felt her! She was alive! It’s impossible! NO!!!!” Finally managing to break the restraints, he stepped free of the table and screamed, a painful and heart-wrenching sound. The Force reacted to his distress. Droids and equipment imploded, turning the rehabilitation centre into a war zone.

~ ~ ~

As the Alderaanian cruiser sped towards Naboo’s capital city, Obi-Wan, Yoda and Bail sat in conference.

“Pregnant, she must still appear. Hidden, safe, the children must be kept.” Yoda suggested to the two men.

Obi-Wan nodded thoughtfully. “We must take them somewhere the Sith will not sense their presence.”

“Split up, they should be.” Yoda agreed.

“My wife and I will take the girl.“ Bail spoke up and smiled slightly. “We’ve always talked of adopting a baby girl. She will be loved with us.”

“And what of the boy?” Obi-Wan asked.

“To Tatooine.” Yoda replied, “to his family, send him.”

“I will take the child and watch over him.” Obi-Wan said, “Master Yoda, do you think Anakin’s twins will be able to defeat Darth Sidious?”

Yoda thought for a moment before answering. “Strong the Force runs, in the Skywalker line. Hope, we can…Done, it is. Until the time is right, disappear we will.”

Satisfied, Bail stood and swept from the room and Obi-Wan would have followed him, had Yoda not stopped him. “Master Kenobi, wait a moment. In your solitude on Tatooine, training I have for you.”

“Training?” Obi-Wan inclined his head in confusion and sat back down.

Yoda smiled and nodded. “An old friend has learned the path to immortality.”

“Who?”

“One who has returned from the netherworld of the Force to train me,” Yoda paused,”…your old Master, Qui-Gon Jinn.”

“Qui-Gon? But, how could he accomplish this?” Obi-Wan did not bother to hide his surprise.

“The secret of the Ancient Order of the Whills, he studied,” Yoda explained. “How to commune with him. I will teach you.”

“I will be able to talk with him?”

Yoda nodded and continued. “How to join the Force, he will train you. Your consciousness you will retain, when one with the Force. Even your physical self, perhaps.”

~ ~ ~

Upon waking up, the first thing that Y/N noticed was how sore her right leg felt. Looking down, she saw that the medical droids had been able to successfully replace the damaged limb.

Curious as to where she was, she pushed herself off the bed and winced when her right foot came into contact with the floor. Squinting her eyes against the soft lights, Y/N slowly limped her way to the door.

The hallway beyond was so bright she had to shield her eyes. Using the walls as support, Y/N slowly moved down the passageway. Her confused trains of thought were interrupted when she heard the sounds of a baby crying.

 _'A baby?'_ She thought, ' _just where am I?'_ Her ever-sensitive heart would not allow her to walk away from the sound. Following the sound, she soon came to what resembled a nursery of sorts. The lights were soft and two cots swayed gently in the centre.

The crying seemed to be coming only from one. Limping towards the sound, Y/N smiled as soon as her e/c eyes fell on the baby in question.

Not knowing what else to do, she reached down and gently lifted the child and cradled it, so that it’s head rested against her chest.

“There, there,” she murmured as she rocked the child.

The baby soon stopped crying, her soft voice lulling it into a sense of calm. His big blue eyes stared up at her.

“Feeling a bit better now?” She murmured to the child, a smile pulled at her mouth. “Now, where’s your mamma I wonder.” She crooned to the baby and gently traced the little cheek with her free hand. “Shall we go and find her?” She asked the child in her arms, “she’ll be happy to see you I’m sure.

The baby stayed calm and quiet in her arms as Y/N limped back out into the empty hall beyond.

Wherever she was appeared to be deserted. Y/N poked her head into every room she came across.

Then, she found something that would shake her already fragile emotions. The room was softly lit, like the babies’s room. In the centre lay a figure that Y/N knew all to well.

“Padme?” She whispered, not wanting to believe what her eyes were clearly telling her.

Adjusting her hold on the child, Y/N edged closer to the young woman who appeared to be sleeping. It was in moments such as these that Y/N cursed her intuitiveness. “You’re not asleep, are you?” Her voice was quiet and fearful.

A deafening silence answered her as she moved to stand by the figure. Padme was dressed in the same white gown and she looked peaceful.

“What happened to you?” Y/N asked quietly, her earlier calm was slipping away dangerously fast. “Who did this to you?” Her questions came even though she knew she would not receive an answer.

“I’m sorry,” Y/N burst out after a few minutes of silence. “I know we did not know each other all that well, but we both knew Anakin-” her voice cracked as she said his name. “And we both loved him. You as his wife, and me as the sister he never had.” She tried to fight the tears that stung her eyes.

Looking down at the baby in her arms, a realisation slammed into her. The child’s blue eyes reminded her of someone. “You know,” she whispered to the baby. “You remind me of someone. Someone very special.”

Turning her attention back to Padme, she smiled sadly. “I do not know where I am, but I hope you are in a better place. Your pain and worries are over.” She lost the fight and the tears escaped her eyes. “You know,” she continued, “and I know this may sound absurd, but I am holding someone who very much reminds me of Ani. He has the same eyes.” She did not bother to wipe away the tears. “I swear to you Padme, I swear on everything I hold dear, that I will do right by you. You fought for a galaxy that refused to fight for you.”

Turning to leave, Y/N glanced back at the still form. “Rest In Peace, Senator.”

~ ~ ~

As the ship neared Naboo, Bail Organa approached the ship’s Captain and two crew members. “Captain Antilles.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I’m placing these droids in your care.“ He gestured to Artoo and C-3PO who stood behind them. “Treat them well. Clean them up. Have the Protocol Droid’s mind wiped.”

~ ~ ~

Obi-Wan, upon leaving the conference room, made his way to where the babies were no doubt fast asleep.

He would indeed take Luke to Tatooine, Anakin’s homeworld. He prayed he would be strong enough.

“There now,” a soft voice reached his ears as he neared the nursery. “You sleep now little one.”

Obi-Wan hardly dared believe what he was hearing and seeing. His sea-shaded eyes locked onto Y/N’s figure leaning over Luke’s cradle, she seemed to be favouring her left leg.

He entered the room as quietly as he could. “Y/N?” He wasn’t entirely sure if he was imagining things, especially after what had happened.

She looked up at the soft whisper of her name. Her eyes found his. “Obi-Wan?” Her voice seemed to tremble and her breath shuddered in her chest. Seeming to forget the pain her artificial leg was causing her, Y/N limped her way to him.

Obi-Wan could not wait until she reached him. Meeting her halfway, he caught her before her legs could give way.

Y/N wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

Obi-Wan responded in kind. He held her close and inhaled the scent that always seemed to cling to her hair. “Oh Y/N, I thought I was going to lose you…”

Y/N shook her head and pulled away slightly to look him in the eye. “You will never lose me Obi-Wan.”

In answer, he pulled her back in and buried his face in her hair. “By the Force Y/N, I’ve missed you.”

She smiled against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’ve missed you too. And Obi-Wan?” She lifted her head. “I saw Padme…”

“Then you know what must happen?”

Now Y/N was confused. “Happen?”

“With the twins,” Obi-Wan clarified for her.

It took Y/N a good long while before it dawned on her. The babies. “They are Anakin’s?” Her eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth to stop from crying out. No wonder the child reminded her of him.

Obi-Wan nodded and gently held her while part of her world came crashing down around her. “It’s alright,” he murmured soothingly, “I’m right here.”

“What’s going to happen to them?” Y/N asked a moment later, her voice a little calmer.

“One will go with Senator Organa to Alderaan and the other will come with me to Tatooine.”

“You’re going to Tatooine?” Y/N asked, confused.

“I will watch over the child,” Obi-Wan explained. “He has family there.”

“Let me come with you,” Y/N pleaded. “Please Obi-Wan, let me come with you.”

Obi-Wan smiled down at her. “Tatooine. Are you sure? It is very hot there and very sandy.”

Y/N nodded. “I have nowhere else to go and you are all I have left…” as soon as the words left her mouth, she turned away from him and inwardly cursed herself. Why would she say something as obvious as that? Was it the fact that she had lost almost everything that made her realise just how important he was to her?

Obi-Wan blinked in confusion as she abruptly turned away from him. Did she just say what he thought she said ? Before he could say anything however, she turned back to face him.

“I apologise for what I said, Obi-Wan.” Her voice was surprisingly calm. “You need not take me with you if you do not wish too.” Having said her piece, she made to leave the room.

“Dooku once asked me something,” Obi-Wan spoke, causing her to stop. “He asked me if you were my weakness.”

Y/N was glad she was facing away from him. Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for his answer. “And?” She whispered, not trusting her voice.

“You were never my weakness,” Obi-Wan stated and approached her and gently turned her to face him. “You are my strength.”

Y/N opened her mouth to say something but no words came out. This time, happy tears stung her eyes.

“You always have been,” he continued. “Remember when you asked me why I believed you when no one else did ?”

Y/N nodded, “you said that Master Qui-Gon had wanted you to support me, and you did, you have,” she reached up and hesitantly lay a hand on his cheek. “Qui-Gon would be proud.”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “I did not do it for him. I did not need him to tell me how special you were and still are. I did not need him to tell me to support you when I could barely think of doing otherwise.”

“Obi-Wan, I-”

“You have been my priority from the moment I met you,” he continued. “Your safety became of paramount importance to me. If the galaxy were to fall to pieces,” he paused and looked her in the eye. “And this ship was all we had left, I would still have everything I needed, as long as you were standing by me. Like you have for so long.”

Y/N blinked and stared. Her heart was hammering so hard she feared it might break the rib cage. “I-I-uh, don’t know what to say.”

“Then don’t say anything,” he murmured softly. “You have given me so much and even now, when we have lost everything, you still continue to give.”

“If what you say is true, then there is something you should know. Something I should have told you before I left for Kamino.”

“What is it?”

“Well,” suddenly she felt nervous and unsure. “I-uh,” Y/N bit her lip and took a deep breath before doing the simplest thing. She closed the short distance between them and kissed him.

Obi-Wan did not know how to react. For so long now he had longed to do just that.

Breaking the kiss, Y/N stepped back and smiled like she had before the war. “What I meant to say was, I love you. I love you Obi-Wan Kenobi. And I don’t care if it is against the Code-”

Her speech was cut short as he leaned forward and kissed her. His eyes shimmered as he smiled down at her. “I love you too, Y/N Y/L/N. I always have and I always will.”

~ ~ ~

Dawn was beginning to break over Theed. The streets were full of cloaked and hooded mourners.

Family members and the Nubian governor followed the casket in which Padme lay. Her long hair had been woven through with flowers and her hands gently held the japor snippet Anakin had given her so many years before.

Y/N watched the casket go past. She had insisted on going to the funeral. Obi-Wan had been hesitant at first but soon relented, agreeing to join her.

As the sun began to rise over the city, Y/N broke away from the crowd and he followed close behind.

“Y/N,” he whispered, confused. “Where are you going?”

“There is something I must do before I go,” she explained, not breaking her stride.

Soon they came to what appeared to be a graveyard. Y/N seemed to know what she was looking for, she headed straight for the back of the cemetery.

Curious, Obi-Wan followed her and soon found her standing in front of a rather elaborate stone.

“Y/N? What is it? Who’s grave is this?”

She did not answer right away. She simply pointed to the name carved on the hard surface. “Mine.”

Yes indeed. Obi-Wan was shocked to read her name on the gravestone. “Why do you have a grave when you are not dead?”

“It was my family’s way of handling my departure.” Y/N’s voice was quiet as she continued to speak. “It was easier for them to believe me to be dead, rather than live with the knowledge that I was alive but they would never see me again.”

Y/N’s quiet confession left Obi-Wan speechless. So this was where she came when she would disappear from the Temple for hours at a time.

“It is strange,” she said thoughtfully but her eyes were sad. “When I came here last, it was before the war. Now, the war is over, but what we have is far from peace.”

Obi-Wan could not help but agree. “I am so very sorry Y/N.”

“None of this is your fault Obi-Wan,” she sent him a sad smile. “We are not to blame for what happened, but it is up to us to make it right again. Come,” she reached out to him. “Let us go and bring little Luke to his family.”

~ ~ ~

Dagobah was the system Yoda had chosen for his exile. It was small and out of the way.

As his escape pod landed on the swampy terrain, he stepped out and sighed. This would be his home until the time was right.

~ ~ ~

In the vast void of space, a single star destroyer hovered. Surrounded by a number of attack cruisers.

Two figures stand on the star destroyer’s bridge and look out at the planet-like construction. Soon a heavy set of footfalls signal the approach of another.

Darth Vader soon joined the Emperor and a man who went by the name Governor Tarkin.

 _“Farewell little brother.”_ The words echoed in his mind as his gaze swept over the construction before him.

_~ ~ ~_

The Queen of Alderaan sat quietly on one of the palace’s numerous balconies. Her quiet contemplation was interrupted by her husband’s arrival.

Upon sitting down beside his wife, Bail gently passed her the precious bundle that was now their daughter and princess of Alderaan.

~ ~ ~

When Y/N and Obi-Wan reached the Lars homestead, the sky had been painted in the brilliant colours of the twin sunset.

Obi-Wan dismounted the Eopi first and reached up to help her down.

Being overly aware of the precious cargo she carried, Y/N gladly accepted his help. Lowering her hood with one hand, she let her hair hang loose and blow gently in the evening breeze.

A young woman came out to greet the pair. Y/N instantly liked her. With her easy smile and calm demeanour.

Reluctantly Y/N passed the sleeping Luke to his Aunt and sent her a small smile. She and Obi-Wan watched the young woman bring her nephew to her husband.

The two Jedi eventually took a few steps backwards before completely turning away.

Y/N could not help but lean into Obi-Wan as they walked back to their mount. Obi-Wan in turn curled an arm over her shoulder and gently kissed the top of her head.


End file.
